Full Professor, Emerging & Neglected Disease Program; Director of Professional Development, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
Affiliate Professor, Department of Global Health, University of Washington
Area of Expertise: African sleeping sickness, toxoplasmosis, leishmaniasis
Dr. Parsons’ research uses molecular approaches to identify important cellular differences between parasites and their human hosts that could lead to new therapies. As U.S. Co-Director of the Global Infectious Diseases Training Grant on Intracellular Pathogens, she is actively involved in training young scientists from India.
Research
Among different disease agents, parasites are the most similar to their human hosts. This has made the search for drugs and vaccines highly challenging. Scientists in Dr. Parsons’ laboratory are interested in identifying differences in cell structure and function between parasites and humans.
The lab studies several parasites including Trypanosoma brucei (African trypanosomes), Leishmania, and Toxoplasma gondii. These pathogens are the causative agents of African sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), leishmaniasis, and toxoplasmosis, respectively. While the number of people suffering from sleeping sickness is probably less than 100,000, left untreated the disease is invariably fatal. The World Health Organization estimates that 12 million people are infected with Leishmania parasites, with some showing little sign of disease and others dying from its effects. Co-infection with HIV can lead to severe, often fatal, leishmaniasis. T. gondii infects approximately 50 million Americans, and causes encephalitis in the immunocompromised. It also is a significant cause of birth defects if the mother becomes infected early in pregnancy.
Dr. Parsons’ interest in these parasites stems from both an interest in their role as important pathogens worldwide and in their basic biology as evolutionarily divergent eukaryotes. Her long-term goal is to identify differences between host and parasite that would be appropriate targets for drug development. Currently, Dr. Parsons’ two focal areas of research are protein phosphorylation and organelle biogenesis and function in parasitic protozoa. Her lab uses technologies ranging from fluorescence microscopy to molecular genetics to study the functional attributes of these processes. The links below provide further information on these projects.
Dr. Parsons’ research is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Biography
Education
Ph.D. Genetics Stanford University
B.A. Biology University of Kansas with highest distinction
Research Training
- Senior fellow in biochemistry with Dr. Nina Agabian, University of Washington
- Bank of America-Giannini Medical Research Fellow in Immunogenetics with Drs. Leonard and Leonore Herzenberg, Stanford University
- Graduate research in human biochemical genetics with Dr. L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, Stanford University
- Undergraduate research in somatic cell genetics with Dr. John Morrow, University of Kansas
Selected Honors and Awards
- Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Joint Chief Editor, 2009-present
- Associate Editor PLoS Pathogens, 2008-2011
- American Society of Microbiology, Division AA Chair, 2008-2009
- Faculty of 1000, 2001-present
- Molecular Parasitology Meeting, Woods Hole, Co-organizer, 1995-1997
- NIH Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Study Section, 1994-1998
- Katherine D. McKormick Fellowship, 1979
- Bank of America-Giannini Foundation Medical Research Fellowship, 1979-1981
- National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 1978
Field of Study
Parasites cause many of the major neglected diseases of humankind. When I began to think about where I could make a unique contribution in my own research program, it was clear that parasitic disease was an area of great need. New molecular and immunological approaches being introduced at the time made a leap in definitive studies. Now, as new systems biology tools are introduced, we are entering a new era where even greater leaps are made possible.
Staff
Amy DeRocher, Senior Scientist
Anne Bouchut, Postdoctoral Scientist
Bryan Jensen, Senior Scientist
Jennifer Geiger, Postdoctoral Fellow
Mark Drew, Visiting Scientist
Mira Kim, Lab Assistant
Suzanne Scheele, Research Technician I
Accomplishments & Collaborations
Laboratory Accomplishments
- Performed a bioinformatic analysis of protein kinases in trypanosomatids. Protein kinases are involved in cell regulation and are important drug targets in human disease.
- Identified molecules involved in the formation of an essential organelle in Leishmania and T. brucei. These molecules are required for the formation of the glycosome, a parasite-specific cell structure that is used in energy generation. The proteins are only distantly related to proteins in the human host.
- Demonstrated that glucose and other sugars are toxic to parasite mutants defective in glycosome formation. Since glucose is required by the parasite when it lives in the human host, but is toxic to the mutant cells, these studies validate the glycosome as a drug target.
- Examined how proteins are targeted to the apicoplast, a unique, essential structure in Toxoplasma. This essential structure is related to the chloroplast of plants and has no homologue in humans.
- Identified the first membrane proteins in the Toxoplasma apicoplast.
- Collaboratively identified inhibitors of Toxoplasma parasite growth.
These accomplishments will be useful for:
- Revealing the importance of different cell structures in parasites
- Insights into parasite survival strategies
- The potential development of new anti-parasitic agents.
