News

We are thrilled to announce that Hyeim Jung has successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis, titled ‘Discovering and Characterizing Conserved Anthelmintic Targets in the Early Parasitic Stages of Gastrointestinal Nematodes.’ Her research focused on identifying novel drug targets in parasitic nematodes, with an emphasis on early parasitic stages, and incorporating new methodologies and genomic resources. Hyeim wanted to add: “I am deeply grateful for the support from my advisors, colleagues and the Mitreva Lab. I look forward to advancing my work in parasitology and drug discovery in my future research.” We are grateful to Hyeim for the years of hard work and support for all of us in Mitreva Lab, we wish you well in all your future endeavors!

Dr. Bibek Yumnam from the lab of Professor Graham Le Gros’ at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in New Zealand is visiting for a few weeks to share information and ideas. Welcome to St. Louis!

The Department of Medicine celebrates outstanding faculty contributions fostering excellence in Medical Education, Clinical Care and Research. Congratulations Makedonka! Link

Our most recent paper defines distinct cell populations of the Ascaris intestine, and how they exhibit differential responses when subjected to a drug treatment. Read more here!

Congratulations on Dr. Bruce Rosa’s promotion to Associate Professor!

Welcome Dr. Giljae Lee, our lab’s newest member! Giljae is primarily interested in exploring variations in the human microbiome across different host states and the host-microbe interactions. His current project focuses on interpreting longitudinal metagenome data to understand how early exposure affects host health.

Congratulations to the eLABE group for this fantastic publication!  Social and psychological adversity are associated with distinct mother and infant gut microbiome variations

Save the date! The Molecular Helminthology  conference will be taking place in person in Madison Wisconsin  from June 26th to 29th, 2023. The MolHelm  2021 virtual conference was a big success, and we’re looking forward to this one being even better! #molhelm2023 #parasites #NTDs

Mitrevalab’s Hyeim Jung co-authors an interesting exploration of the use of Aspartyl Protease Inhibitors as Anti-Filarial Drugs

Pierre Abad kickstarts the 7th International Congress of Nematology in Antibes, France! We are looking forward to hearing about exciting new research as well as contributing to the discussion with Dr. Mitreva’s plenary talk on May 5th #ICN2022 #nematodes

Dr. Mitreva joins the editorial board of @FrontiersIn Parasitology as Section Chief Editor. This new journal will help drive innovation in its field through high-quality research. Find out more: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/parasitology#

Grants fund drug development for devastating tropical diseases

Dr. Mitreva receives distinguished award in tropical medicine

Mitreva Lab received grant funds for development of ‘living factories’ to produce antibodies, anti-nerve agents:

Hookworms have potential to protect soldiers from chemical, biological weapons

Dr. Agbasi Patrick, a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology from the Federal University of Technology in Owerri, Nigeria (https://futo.edu.ng/) visited both Mitrevalab and the lab of Dr. Gary Weil today. Dr. Agbasi, the Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Technology (housing seven departments including: Biomedical Engineering, Prosthetic and Orthotic Technology, Dental Technology, Public Health, Optometry, Environmental Health Science and Radiography), was on transit to Nigeria after a 5-day workshop on Proposal Writing and Grantsmanship at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio when he made a stop at WUSM to visit one of his staff, Dr. Uzoechi Samuel who is a Postdoc Associate in Dr. Mitreva’s lab.

He was pleased to meet Dr. Mitreva and thanked her for offering Sam the opportunity to acquire more skills through Postdoc training. Dr. Agbasi was given a lab tour and details regarding our areas of research, and encouraged to stay connected with an eye towards collaboration and how his institution might be able to leverage our research and grant opportunities in the US to further the field. Dr. Agbasi’s discussion with Dr. Gary Weil (https://infectiousdiseases.wustl.edu/faculty-staff/gary-j-weil/) was also fruitful. Dr. Weil has worked in more than 15 countries on the African continent and is looking forward to the possibility of expanding his work into Nigeria.

Both the Mitreva and Weil Labs wish Dr. Agbasi a safe return home and continued success in his research!

Mitrevalab welcomes our newest member, Dr. Kumar Sachin Singh!  Dr. Singh is most interested in studying host-pathogen interactions. He will also be involved in the discovery of novel drug targets and development of antimicrobial/antiparasitic small molecules against various infectious diseases. Welcome aboard!

This month we welcome Dr. Samuel Uzoechi to the lab!  Dr. Uzoechi is a biomedical engineer trained in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.  His research areas include cartilage and bone tissue engineering, stem cell biology, bacterial multidrug resistance, and biofilm formation.  We’re all looking forward to working with him!