[SCAN] In the track of Babesia

Scan Seminar

Title: In the track of Babesia

Speaker: Carmo Barreto

From: Biomolecular Diagnostics Lab, ITQB

Abstract:

Babesia is a parasite that is somehow unknown for most of us and its occurrence in Portugal is scarce. It is an intraerythrocytic parasite that can infect and cause babesiosis to a wide range of vertebrate hosts. It is an Apicomplexan parasite with a complex life cycle and a highly conserved cell organisation. The invasion of the host is believed to be an extremely organised event were the proteins involved are sequentially expressed at a specific period of time . To open the way for the development of a vaccine is necessary to know the mechanisms of infection and identify the immunogenic protein that activates the host’s immunology system. The detection and identification of those proteins of Babesia growing in in vitro cell culture was achieved using immunoassay methods. In addition, the inhibition of its growth in vitro was accomplished when specific antibodies were added to the culture medium. Furthermore, the development of new diagnostic tools, namely a semi-nested PCR to detect the parasite in an early stage of infection was tackled.