Visiting Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., 2020, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Languages Spoken: Portuguese
Biography
Our research interest is focused on the molecular mechanisms of mosquito immune priming. Oenocytes, are cells in the fat body that express high levels of double peroxidase (DBLOX), an enzyme essential for synthesis of a hemocyte differentiation factor (HDF) that enhances immunity in primed Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Oenocytes numbers increase in response to Plasmodium infection and HDF synthesis is sustained over time by epigenetic modifications that require a histone acetyltransferase, AgTIP60. Our aim is to understand how oenocytes orchestrate a long-lasting state of enhanced immune surveillance in immune primed mosquitoes.