Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Lamba Sangaré

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Davis Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, 2016-2021
Ph.D. Parasitology, Lile 2 University (France), 2015
M.Sc. Genetics, Paris Diderot University (France),2012
M.Sc. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Pierre and Marie curie University (France), 2011
B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Bamako (Mali), 2009

PhD Candidate (Biology)

Koen Kleine

B.Sc. Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, 2022

My work is focused on understanding the molecular biology of how Toxoplasma gondii transmigrates the placental barrier to infect a developing fetus and characterizing parasite proteins which enhance or mediate this process.

PhD Candidate (Microbiology)

Dawood Abbas

M.Ph Parasitology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2020
B.Sc. Biological Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2016

The syncytiotrophoblast is reported to restrict the attachment and replication of Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that infects almost all nucleated cells. My research focuses on identifying the molecular mechanism that mediates this restriction.

PhD Student (Biology)

Kathryn Beebe

B.Sc. Microbiology, Texas A&M University 2022

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is known to cross the placental barrier causing, however the mechanism by which it crosses is unknown. The purpose of my research is to understand how T. gondii interacts placental extravillous trophoblast cell and how this impacts gestation.