Barillas-Mury Research Group

The Mosquito Immunity and Vector Competence Section investigates the interactions of the mosquito immune system with viruses and parasites to understand how they affect disease transmission.

Carolina Barillas-Mury, M.D., Ph.D.

Distinguished Investigator
Head, Mosquito Immunity and Vector Competence Section
Chief, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research

Contact: cbarillas@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 1992, University of Arizona
M.D., 1985, Universidad Francisco Marroquin de Guatemala
B.S., 1981, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

Dr. Barillas received her B.S. in biology from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, her M.D. from the Universidad Francisco Marroquín de Guatemala, and her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. She completed her postdoctoral training in Prof. Fotis Kafatos' laboratory at Harvard University and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany. She was an assistant professor at Colorado...

Learn more about Carolina Barillas-Mury, M.D., Ph.D.

Carolina Barillas-Mury, M.D., Ph.D.

Stephanie Serafim de Carvalho, Ph.D.

Visiting Fellow

Education:

Ph.D., 2020, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Languages Spoken: Portuguese

Our research interest is focused on the molecular mechanisms of mosquito immune priming. Oenocytes, are cells in the fat body that express high levels of double peroxidase (DBLOX), an enzyme essential for synthesis of a hemocyte differentiation factor (HDF) that enhances immunity in primed Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Oenocytes numbers increase in response to Plasmodium infection and HDF...

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Octavio Talyuli Da Cunha

Ph.D. graduate student

Languages Spoken: Portuguese

I am interested in understanding how the mosquito immune system limits viral infection and how this affects transmission of arboviruses to humans. In other words, how mosquitoes mount an antiviral response and how this affects the vectorial capacity of different mosquito species.

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Ana Beatriz B. Ferreira, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

Languages Spoken: Portuguese

I am interested in understanding how hemocyte differentiation and cellular immune responses limit Plasmodium infection in mosquitoes.

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Alvaro Molina-Cruz, Ph.D.

Associate Scientist

Languages Spoken: Spanish

My main area of research is the interaction between vector-borne pathogens and arthropod vectors, with the goal of generating novel transmission blocking strategies.

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Banhisikha Saha, Ph.D.

Visiting Fellow

Our goal is to elucidate the molecular mechanism of hemocyte mediated enhanced immune memory in mosquitoes previously challenged with Plasmodium infection.

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Former Research Group Members

Former Post-Doctoral Fellows

Dr. Yeon-Soo Han 1998-2003 Associate Professor and Department Head at Chonnam National University, Korea.

Dr. Alvaro Molina-Cruz 2003-2006 Promoted to LMVR Staff Scientist in September 2006.

Dr. Randall DeJong 2004-2006 Associate Professor at Calvin College, Michigan.

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar 2002-2008 Associate Professor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Rajasthan, India

Dr. Lalita Gupta 2002-2008 Associate Professor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Rajasthan, India

Dr. Rajnikant Dixit 2007-2010 Independent Researcher, National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), Delhi, India

Dr. Janneth Rodrigues 2006-2011 Scientist at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain

Dr. Giselle Oliveira 2009-2012 Visiting Researcher, Science without Borders Program, Rene Rachou Institute, Fiocruz, Brazil

Dr. Lindsey Garver 2009-2013 Senior Research Scientist, Vector and Parasite Biology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Dr. Urvashi Ramphul 2012-2015 Senior Research Associate, Perrett Laver, London

Dr. Jose Luis Ramirez 2011-2015 Research Entomologist, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Preoria, Illinois

Dr. Julio Cesar Castillo 2013-2016 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Jose Ribeiro’s Laboratory, LMVR, NIH

Dr. Caeul Lim 2016-2018 Scientific Editor at Trends/Cell Host & Microbe, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dr. Nathani Trisnadi 2015-2018 Research Scientist, Atropos Therapeutics, San Carlos, California

Dr. Fabio M.Gomes 2014-2019 Assistant Professor, Parasitology Department, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Dr. Thiago Alves Silva 2015-2018 Post-Doctoral Fellow

Dr. Gaspar Canepa 2012-2020 Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

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