LAUSR

Sara Lustigman leads the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute of the New York Blood Center. Sara and her team are currently focused on developing a prophylactic vaccine for onchocerciasis, a disease caused by Onchocerca volvulus that can lead to permanent blindness and that affectsmore than 14million people in Africa. In this interview with Trends inParasitology, Sara argues that we need a multi-pronged approach to achieve elimination of this parasitic disease. What does your research focus on? My research over the past 30 years has focused on finding novel means to support the prevention of onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness. To achieve this we have been studying the biology of Onchocerca volvulus [16_TD$DIFF], the causative agent of onchocerciasis [17_TD$DIFF], using multi-faceted approaches including molecular, immunological, epidemiological, and ‘omics (functional genomics, transcriptomic, proteomic, secretome, and immunomics). We focused mostly on the first stage of parasite development in the human host; the molting of the third-stage larvae to the fourth-stage larvae and the target for a prophylactic vaccine. To accomplish this we have to develop protocols and effective systems for the mass production of these infective stages from infected blackflies, which can be only done in endemic regions of Africa and near flowing rivers where these flies breed. These larvae enabled the construction of thirdstage [18_TD$DIFF]larvae andmolting larvae stage-specific cDNA libraries, which were then used to identify and clone potentially protecting larval proteins. These parasites enabled us also to develop various animal models (chimpanzee, mouse [19_TD$DIFF], and cattle) to study the development of immune responses to these parasites as well as a model for testing efficacy of vaccine antigens. The information we gained by studying the basic biology and immunity [20_TD$DIFF]in vitro and in vivo and the unique host–parasite interactions developed during the early stages of infection has allowed the identification of key pathways and molecules that are essential for parasite development, propagation [21_TD$DIFF], and/or survival. While pursuing basic research questions, we are always also focused on the translational potential of our discoveries. Our ultimate goal is to identify new strategies by which humans can be protected from this parasitic infection by either immunological (vaccines) or chemotherapeutic (drugs) means.