Kafatos:Vlachou, Dina

Research Fellow at Imperial College, London.

Profile
1990-1991:	Research assistant, Division of Genetic and Biotechnology, Department of Biology, University of Athens, Greece. Postgraduate research in insect molecular biology. 1991-1997:	PhD studies, Division of Genetic and Biotechnology, Department of Biology, University of Athens, Greece. Research Area: Functional and evolutionary analysis of chorion genes in Diptera. 1997-2000:	Post-doctoral fellow, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology/Foundation for Research and Technology (IMBB/FORTH), Crete, Greece. Research Area: Identification of Anopheles gambiae midgut proteins putatively interacting with Plasmodium surface proteins. 2000-2001:	RTN Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Parasitology, University of Leiden (LUMC), Leiden, The Netherlands. Research Area: Genetic manipulation of Plasmodium berghei and development of alternative tools for conditional knockout and transient expression of genes in the parasite mosquito stages. 2001-2003:	Marie Curie Research Fellow, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany. Research Area: Molecular and cellular dissection of mosquito midgut invasion, and mosquito immune responses. 2003-2005:	Senior Research Associate, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany. Research Area: Molecular and cellular dissection of mosquito midgut invasion, and mosquito immune responses. 2005-present: Senior Research Scientist, Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Research Area: Functional genomics of mosquito/parasite interactions.

Research Interests
My scientific interests lie in the field of infectious diseases, especially malaria, a leading parasitic disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. It affects half of the global population and kills 1-3 million people every year, the vast majority children aged below 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. My research focuses on the understanding of molecular and cellular interactions between Anopheles mosquitoes and malaria parasites, Plasmodium, using functional genomics technologies, such as DNA microarrays and RNA interference (RNAi). Special emphasis is put on mosquito midgut infection, the most critical stage in the malaria transmission cycle. It utilizes both laboratory model transmission systems, i.e. Anopheles mosquitoes and rodent parasites Plasmodium berghei, and naturally interacting populations of Anopheles gambiae and human parasites Plasmodium falciparum. Detail understanding of parasite/mosquito interactions may guide development of novel control strategies to control transmission of the disease.

Research projects
Local epithelial immunity Local epithelial responses of the mosquito midgut to invasion by the malaria parasite: cellular and transcriptional analysis PhD student: Timm Schlegelmilch Collaborators: Kafatos and Christophides (Imperial)

Plasmodium ookinete-to-oocyst development 1. Functional genomics of the model malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei: emphasis on ookinete-to-oocyst developmental transition stage 2. Mechanisms of early regulation of ookinete-to-oocyst transition PhD students: Ellen Bushell and Karolina Akinosoglou Collaborators: Kafatos, Christophides and Sinden (Imperial), Janse (LUMC), Goulding (Sanger), Dr Herwig Schüler (Karolinska University)

Human malaria transmission in Africa Functional genomic analysis of parasite/mosquito interactions in naturally interacting populations in Africa PhD student: Antonio Mendes Collaborators: Morlais (OCEAC, Cameroon), Fontenille and Cohuet (IRD, France), FP7 consortium (including Burkina Faso and Uganda)

Grants and Awards
•	PhD individual fellowship by Academy of Athens, Greece (1993-1996) •	Marie-Curie Individual Research Fellowship, European Commission, Fifth Framework Program (2001-2003) •	Co-Principal Investigator in FP7 Collaborative Project HEALTH-2007-2.3.2-9: Blocking the transmission of malaria: the mosquito vector target •	Scientific collaborator in NIAID-NIH Programme Project grant (2PO1AI044220-06A1; PI: Prof Fotis C. Kafatos) •	Scientific collaborator in Welcome Trust Programme grant (GR077229/Z/05/Z; PIs: Prof Fotis C. Kafatos, Dr George K. Christophides)

International profile
•	Invited speaker at Host Response to Cell Invasion Workshop, The 11th Annual and International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA XI), hosted by the British Society for Parasitology, Glasgow, 6-11 August 2006 •	Invited speaker at 17th International Biology of Disease Vectors Course, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England U.K, 16-28 July 2006 •	Invited speaker at 2nd Annual International BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, May 2006

National and international collaborations include Prof Robert E. Sinden (Imperial College), Dr Chris Janse (University of Leiden), Dr Isabelle Morlais (Institute of Research and Development(IRD)/OCEAC, Cameroon), Dr Anna Cohuet (IRD, Montpellier), Dr Didier Fontenille (IRD, Montpellier) and Dr Herwig Schüler (Karolinska University).

[Click to see press release]

Academic profile
•	Teaching assistantship of pre-graduated students at the Departments of Biology and Pharmacology, University of Athens, Greece (1991-1996) •	Invited lecturer at postgraduate student course in Bioinformatics, University of Athens, Greece (May 2005) •	Invited lecturer at 17th International Annual Biology of Disease Vectors Course (BDV), University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (16-28 July 2006) •	Project leader and Thesis supervisor of Imperial College PhD candidates Timm Schlegelmilch, Ellen Bushell and Karolina Akinosoglou •	Project leader and Thesis supervisor of BioMalPar International PhD Programme fellow Antonio Mendes •	Thesis advisor of PhD candidate Caroline Harris (University of Montpellier, France) •	Supervisor of final year project of Imperial College pre-graduate students (2007, 2008, 2009) •	Examiner of final year project vivas of Imperial College pre-graduate students (2006, 2007)

Publications

 * 1) Bushell2009 pmid=19662167
 * 2) baum2009 pmid=19380379
 * 3) mendes2008 pmid=18483558
 * 4) waterhouse2007 pmid=17588928
 * 5) vlachou2006 pmid=16793259
 * 6) - Christophides G, Meister S, Koutsos A, et al, Systems biology of the Anopheles gainbiae innate immunity [MIM-GC-22590], ACTA TROP, 2005, Vol:95, Pages:S44-S45, ISSN:0001-706X
 * 7) vlachou2005 pmid=16005290
 * 8) vlachou2005b pmid=15996894
 * 9) osta2004 pmid=15201288
 * 10) christophides2004 pmid=15199960
 * 11) vlachou2004 pmid=15186403
 * 12) dessens2003 pmid=12828632
 * 13) christophides2002 pmid=12364793
 * 14) vlachou2001 pmid=11404001
 * 15) vlachou2001b pmid=11223130
 * 16) margos2000 pmid=11163454
 * 17) sinden-kiamos pmid=10984433
 * 18) vlachou1997 pmid=9409839

Recent publications in international conferences
•	Mendes A, Bushell SC, Akinosoglou K, Schlegelmilch T, Kafatos FC, Morlais I and Vlachou D. Interactions between A. gambiae and sympatric P. falciparum populations in Africa. 4th EMBO Meeting on Vector Biology, Kolymbari, Crete, 2009.

•	Bushell ES, Schlegelmilch T, Ecker A, Goulding D, Sinden RE, Christophides GK, Kafatos FC, Vlachou D. The identification and characterisation of MISFIT, a Plasmodium Male-Inherited Sporulation Factor Important for Malaria Transmission. The 19th Annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. USA, 2008.

•	Bushell ESC & Vlachou D. Identification and characterisation of Plasmodium genes responsible for oocyst development and putative evasion of mosquito immune responses. Third Annual BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, 2007.

•	Mendes A, Morlais I, Cohuet A, Fontenille D, Christophides GK,, Kafatos FC and Vlachou D. Genomic analysis of mosquito/parasite molecular interactions in natural and model laboratory transmission systems. Fourth Annual International BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, 2008.

•	Genomic analysis of Anopheles gambiae responses to sympatric Plasmodium falciparum isolates. Mendes A, Cohuet A, Schlegelmilch T, Morlais I, Fontenille D, Christophides GK, Kafatos FC and Vlachou D. Third Annual BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, 2007.

•	Vlachou D, Cohuet A, Mendes A, Morlais I, Fontenille D, Christophides GK, Kafatos FC. Anopheles-Plasmodium interactions: From lab models to natural field transmission. Second Annual BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, 2006.

•	Mendes A, Schlegelmilch T, Cohuet A, Morlais I, Simard F, Fontenille D, Christophides GK, Kafatos FC and Vlachou D. Comparative genomic analysis of the Anopheles gambiae responses to infection with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium berghei. Second Annual International BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, 2006.

•	Functional genomics of mosquito midgut invasion and the role of Apolipophorins in parasite infections. Schlegelmilch T, Mendes A, Cohuet A, Kafatos FC and Vlachou D. The 11th Annual and International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA XI), hosted by the British Society for Parasitology, Glasgow, 2006.