Microbial Ecophysiology Lab

Dr. Elsio Wunder
DVM, PhD, Assistant Professor UConn Pathobiology and Veterinary Science
Host: Ken Campellone

Leptospirosis pathogenesis: unveiling a mystery

Summary: Leptospirosis, the leading zoonotic disease in morbidity and mortality worldwide, is caused by pathogenic spirochetes belonging to the genus Leptospira. The burden of this neglected disease will continue to rise given the effects of climate change and social inequality, important drivers of disease. The mechanism behind the pathogenesis of leptospiral infection continues to be a major knowledge gap preventing the advance on diagnostic and prevention. Despite recent breakthroughs on the research of this important neglected zoonotic disease, more work is needed to better understand how leptospires can rapidly disseminate, evade host-immune responses, and cause life-threatening disease worldwide.
In this talk, Dr. Wunder will show some recent research that  their group is working on to try to better understand the mechanisms behind the host-pathogen interactions of this disease, and how this work can influence the development of better tools for diagnostic and prevention.

About Dr. Wunder: Dr. Wunder is a trained veterinarian with extensive international research experience, focused on understanding the pathogenesis of leptospirosis with more than 15 years of experience working in leptospirosis research laboratories in veterinary and public health settings. Dr. Wunder’s experience has given them an in-depth understanding of the practical research laboratory issues and the challenges in the biology and pathogenesis of this important neglected disease. Their PhD thesis centered on translational research applications to identify leptospiral determinants enabling the bacterium to penetrate and disseminate in the host. As part of this work, Wunder developed and evaluated qPCR-based DNA detection assays for diagnosis and dissemination studies, improved methods for genetic transformation of Leptospira, and developed in-vitro assays that were used to determine the ability of the pathogen to cause infection, like translocation and adherence assays. Their research has concentrated on using those skills and techniques to better understand leptospiral pathogenesis and identify suitable and potential protein candidates to improve the diagnosis and prevention of leptospirosis.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mmi.15327
https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1011313
https://elifesciences.org/articles/64166
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2019.0367?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/iai.00094-16?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mmi.13403
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/225/1/130/6303542?login=true

Wunder Lab website

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

University of Connecticut

Announces the

Oral Dissertation Defense for the Doctoral Degree

Jacob Kellermeier

B.S. Microbiology, Indiana University 2018

B.S. Neuroscience, Indiana University 2018

MyoF and FRM2 Coordinate the Cytosolic F-Actin Cytoskeleton to Facilitate Endomembrane Trafficking and Organelle Inheritance in Toxoplasma gondii

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

10:00 AM

ESB 121

Major Advisor: Dr. Aoife Heaslip

Associate Advisor: Dr. Kenneth Campellone

Associate Advisor: Dr. Juliet Lee

Examiner: Dr. Kat Milligan-McClellan

Examiner: Dr. Adam Zweifach

Link to Dissertation

WinS is a low-key, MCB-based (but not MCB-exclusive) social group dedicated to supporting female grad students, postdocs and faculty in the sciences. Connecting to others through such networks can increase professional success and personal contentment (which have additional positive cascading effects), so please consider stopping by - even if only for a few minutes! Note: This meeting is for all women, including cis and trans, and non-binary and gender non-conforming people who are comfortable in a space that centers the experiences of women in science.

Giancarlo Montovano
Robinson Lab

Tracy Lacson
PSM

Dr. Seth Fraden
Brandeis University
Host: Carol Teschke