After obtaining a PhD for research on fruitfly DNA binding proteins (CID-CSIC, Barcelona), I started to study malaria parasites. I worked for four years as head of the Molecular Parasitology lab at the Papua New Guinea IMR, where my research mainly focused on basic malaria parasite biology, but also on epidemiological aspects of the disease. Back to Europe, I joined the MRC-NIMR (London) as a postdoc for two years and a half to study gene expression and invasion of erythrocytes by malaria parasites. In 2006, I moved to IRB Barcelona with an ICREA junior contract. In 2011, I joined CRESIB-ISGlobal as a group leader, and in 2012 I was appointed ICREA Research Professor. The research of my team at ISGlobal focuses on the regulation of gene expression in malaria parasites, mainly on the mechanisms and functions of epigenetic variation and on the transcriptional regulation of specific processes such as sexual conversion and the heat-shock response.
Research interests
The central research interest of my team is epigenetic variation in Plasmodium falciparum, i.e., heritable differences between genetically identical parasites that result in transcriptional and phenotypic variation. We study the chromatin-based mechanisms involved in the epigenetic regulation of variantly expressed genes, and the role of epigenetic variation in the adaptation of parasite populations to changes in their environment. We combine genome-wide approaches with studies on specific variantly expressed genes that control important processes in parasite biology. Among these, we are especially interested in the genes that regulate solute uptake and sexual conversion. Regarding the latter, one of our current research priorities is understanding how some asexually-growing parasites “decide” to convert into sexual forms, which are necessary for malaria transmission. We also investigate the transcriptional response that secures parasite survival at febrile temperatures.
Selected publications
- Nhim S, Tintó-Font E, Casas-Vila N, Michel-Todó L & Cortés A, 2024, 'Heterochromatin dynamics during the initial stages of sexual development in Plasmodium falciparum', Scientific reports, 14:23180.
- Freville A, Stewart LB, Tetteh KKA, Treeck M, Cortés A, Voss TS, Tarr SJ, Baker DA, Conway DJ, 2024, 'Expression of the MSPDBL2 antigen in a discrete subset of Plasmodium falciparum schizonts is regulated by GDV1 but may not be linked to sexual commitment', mBio, 15:e03140-23.
Selected research activities
-Invited speaker at BioMalPar XX (an EMBL conference), Heidelberg, Germany. Title of the talk: “The regulation of the regulator of the regulator of the regulator of sexual conversion in Plasmodium falciparum”.
-Ramon Margalef award to Elisabet Tintó-Font, doing her PhD under my supervision, for the article Tintó-Font et al., Nat. Microbiol. 2021 (PMID: 34400833). This award recognises the best article derived from a PhD thesis at Universitat de Barcelona (UB).
-“Unfunded collaborator” (co-promoter) in a new grant from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO, Belgium). Title: “Structure-function relationship and epigenetic regulation of Plasmodium vivax tryptophan-rich antigens during host cell invasion”. Principal Investigator: Prof. Anna Rosanas-Urgell (ITM, Antwerp, Belgium).
-Invited speaker at a Spanish Blood Banks meeting (Sevilla) and an International Society of Blood Tranfussion (ISBT) meeting satellite event (Barcelona).