Carruthers Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2024

Parasite autophagy as a key survival mechanism for the AIDS-associated pathogen Toxoplasma gondii

Reactivation of chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection causes ocular, cardiac, respiratory, and neurologic disease in immune-deficient individuals. Current treatments fail to eliminate the slow replicating, persistent Toxoplasma bradyzoite cysts that seed reactivation and disease, which manifests most severely as Toxoplasmic encephalitis. Our long-term goal is to identify critical liabilities for disrupting Toxoplasma persistence, thereby eliminating the risk of potentially fatal Toxoplasmic encephalitis in at-risk individuals. Toward this goal, we have recently demonstrated that the viability of bradyzoite cysts in culture and in infected mice critically relies on the parasite having a…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.