Guan Zhu Lab

This weekend, members from our lab attended the 61st American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists conference at the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio, Tx. This annual meeting is one of the most important national gatherings of researchers, students, and clinicians for the distribution of new information and perspectives on the biology… Read more“Lab attend 61st American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists conference”

Members of our lab attended the 49th annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists (SWAP) held on April 14 – 16 at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS) located on Lake Texoma at Kingston, Oklahoma. The meeting consisted of two sections, oral presentations and poster session. On the morning… Read more“Lab news-SWAP meeting”

We are looking for a postdoctoral associate or technician to explore the energy and fatty acid metabolic enzymes as drug targets in the protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Candidates experienced with molecular and biochemical parasitology, as well as in vitro and in vivo experiments are encouraged to apply. Background in… Read more“Postdoctoral Position in molecular and biochemical parasitology”

Our recent paper on Cryptosporidium lactate dehydrogenase (CpLDH) is accompanied by a press release from the PLOS Pathogens editorial office. The article is live online now: http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005250. It’s on today’s feature research at the journal’s homepage (November 12, 2015): http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/ Selected medium coverages by: Medical Express: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-11-exploring-vulnerabilities-cryptosporidium-parasite.html Today Topics:  http://www.todaytopics.com/exploring-vulnerabilities-of-the-cryptosporidium-parasite/44159/ Medical News… Read more“Press release by the “PLoS Pathogen”

On 10/27/15, Dr. Greg Cuny from the University of Houston visited the Texas A&M University to give a presentation regarding his research on “IMPDH Inhibitors for Cryptosporidiosis.” Similar to ongoing projects in our lab, Dr. Cuny’s research is directed towards developing therapeutics against the cryptosporidium parvum parasite. For this particular… Read more“Dr. Cunny from Houston Univeristy visits”

Last week, Dr. Zhu, Mary Yu, and Rachel Hoyle visited the San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center (SMARC) where they toured the facility and collected more samples for a small project concerning the detection and identification of an undocumented microsporidia affecting federally listed Eurycea salamanders: Eurycea sosurm, Eurycea nana, Eurycea rathbuni…. Read more“Trip to San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center”

We had our very first monthly lab meeting where current lab members presented their work on ongoing primary and secondary project on September 25th. In addition, Dr. Zhu introduced our new lab members Zi Jin. Zi Jin comes from China and is pursing her master degree here.

The research in our lab focuses on the molecular biology and biochemistry of parasitic protists, including Cryptosporidium and coccidia (Eimeria spp.). Major research interests include the parasite metabolism, drug targets and drug development, evolution of apicomplexans, host-pathogen interactions, and functional genomics. Other research areas include the parasites in wild quail and exotic birds…. Read more“Welcome to Dr. Zhu Lab”