Karine Gaëlle Le Roch

Professor of Molecular, Cell & Systems Biology,
Director of the Center for Infectious Disease & Vector Research,
University of California, Riverside

https://lerochlab.ucr.edu/

Apicomplexa are a phylum of diverse obligate intracellular parasites including Plasmodium, the cause of malaria; Toxoplasma gondii, an opportunistic pathogen of immunocompromised patients; or Babesia that causes hemolytic disease in human or cattle. Some of these parasites are still amongst the deadliest infectious agents in the world. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that control development, replication and transmission of these pathogens is key to developing novel therapeutic strategies that will break their continuous infectious cycles.

For years scientists have investigated how the genomic blueprint encodes all biological processes, and how genetic information stored in the nucleus is transmitted to progeny. We now know that decrypting the information encoded in the linear genome sequence is not sufficient to understand its function. Critical barriers in the field include understanding how the genomic sequence is organized and regulated at the three-dimensional level.

To address this problem, my laboratory has adapted several functional genomics approaches to probe the spatial organization of parasitic genomes as well as their epigenetics features to better understand their role in regulating biological processes including transcription. We are using next generation sequencing technologies including chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) together with mass spectrometry, metabolomics and systems biology approaches to identify key molecular components such as metabolic pathways, proteins and/or lncRNAs that control chromatin structure, parasite development and virulence factors of some of the most pathogenic Apicomplexan. The ultimate goal of our research is to develop innovative approaches for the treatment of malaria and other parasitic diseases.