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SUMMARY:Functional genomics for schistosomes: approaches to interrogate ho
 st-parasite interaction\, and schistosomiasis-associated diseases.  - Dr G
 abriel Rinaldi\, Sanger Institute
DTSTART:20160224T160000Z
DTEND:20160224T170000Z
UID:TALK60008@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Fiona Roby
DESCRIPTION:More than 200 million people are afflicted with schistosomiasi
 s\; infection with Schistosoma japonicum and S. mansoni causes hepatointes
 tinal schistosomiasis and S. haematobium causes urogenital schistosomiasis
  (UGS). UGS is associated with hematuria\, major bladder wall pathology an
 d hydronephrosis leading to kidney damage\, whereas chronic deposition of 
 eggs of S. haematobium frequently leads to squamous cell carcinoma of the 
 bladder. Functional genomic studies will facilitate the characterization o
 f the role and essentiality of newly available genome sequences of the thr
 ee major human schistosomes. To develop transgenesis for these pathogens\,
  we have previously demonstrated that VSVG-pseudotyped murine leukemia vir
 us (MLV) can transduce eggs of schistosomes leading to chromosomal integra
 tion and germline transmission of reporter transgenes and short hairpin RN
 A cassettes\, facilitating the development of stable transgenic lines. How
 ever\, a sustained and robust transgene expression has been a challenge. D
 ifferent strategies\, including insulators\, modification of epigenetic ma
 rks\, exogenous cis-regulatory elements including conditional promoters\, 
 schistosome tissue-specific promoters\, codon optimization to improve tran
 sgene translation\, and antibiotic selection of retroviral-transduced para
 sites are being evaluated. Recently\, we investigated whether lentiviruses
 \, including VSVG-pseudotyped human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) 
 might be utilized for transgenesis of schistosomes. It is expected that th
 ese functional approaches will facilitate the study of schistosomes\, host
 -parasite interactions and fluke-associated diseases. In this regard\, our
  group is also interested on developing model systems and functional tools
  to investigate the role of Schistosoma haematobium in squamous cell carci
 noma of the bladder and the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini in bile duc
 t cancer.\n\n\n
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 2\, Department of Veterinary Medicine
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