Kafatos:Lawniczak, Mara

Research interests and active projects

My primary interest is in biological interactions that involve antagonistic co-evolution. My Ph.D. was focused on sexual conflict in Drosophila and the molecular basis of male-female interactions. Currently, I am investigating genotype*genotype interactions between Anopheles gambiae mosquito vectors and Plasmodium falciparum parasites.

I am also interested in understanding the genetic basis of the speciation process. To investigate the genetic basis of speciation in the Anopheles gambiae group, we analyzed whole genome sequence data from M and S colonies and found extensive divergence genome-wide in spite of ongoing hybridization in nature. It is from these sequences that we identified the 400,000 variable positions which we chose to examine on the SNP chip (below).

In collaboration with Dan Neafsey (Broad Institute), Seth Redmond (Imperial College), and Danny Park (Broad Institute), I have developed an Anopheles gambiae SNP chip that interrogates 400,000 positions across the genome of Anopheles gambiae and 1000 positions across the genome of Plasmodium falciparum. Thus far, we have used the chip to investigate population structure in M, S, and Bamako mosquitoes from Mali.

I have also used the SNP chip to carry out genome-wide association studies (GWAS) mapping genetic variation contributing to the outcome of Plasmodium falciparum infections. Additionally, I am helping several graduate students in the Christophides lab to use the SNP chip to carry out additional GWAS mapping genetic variation contributing to the outcome of Plasmodium berghei LRIM knockdowns (Leanna Upton), Beauveria bassiana (Jo Fernando), Onyongyong virus (Jo Fernando), and Serratia marcescens (Stavros Stathopolous) infections. All of these projects are actively ongoing and producing exciting results, identifying both genes we already know to be involved in response to infections and genes we did not know about. Thus, GWAS in mosquitoes are opening new avenues of research.

My main interest in creating the SNP chip is to use this technology to dissect the genetic basis of genotypic interactions between Anopheles mosquitoes and Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Genotype-genotype interactions are incredibly important in determining the outcome of an infection, and we need to gain a handle on the molecular basis of these interactions if we are to make progress towards vector-based strategies of malaria control.

Education University of California, Davis. Ph.D. in Population Biology. 2000- 2004. Advisor: Dr. David Begun.

University of Texas, Austin. First year Ph.D. program in Integrative Biology. 1999-2000. Advisors: Dr. James Bull & Dr. David Begun.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Bachelor of Science with High Honors in Biology. 1993-1997. Advisors: Dr. Shawn Meagher & Dr. Philip Myers.

Teaching Guest lecturer for the Advanced Topics in Cellular and Molecular Immunology course led by George Christophides. My lectures are on Population genomics and Genome-wide association studies.

Teaching assistant at UCDavis for Population genetics (2003, 2004) and Evolution (2001,2002)

Topics and systems of interest evolutionary genetics, sexual conflict, sexual selection, host-parasite antagonistic coevolution, genetic conflict, evolvability, population genetics/genomics, drosophila, anopheles, plasmodium, cephalopods & nepenthes.

Previous appointments University College London. BBSRC funded postdoctoral researcher. 2004- 2006. Advisor: Dr. Tracey Chapman.

Publications This link to PubMed lists my publications.