<![CDATA[Paredez Lab - News]]>Tue, 19 May 2026 15:11:49 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Congratulations to Han-Wei for outstanding work. Our paper on the role of cAMP in initiating Giardia encystation was published today in Nature Communications!]]>Thu, 09 Nov 2023 19:04:51 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/congratulations-to-han-wei-for-outstanding-work-our-paper-on-the-role-of-camp-in-initiating-giardia-encystation-was-published-today-in-nature-communications​www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43028-1
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Three new pubs for 2022]]>Wed, 29 Jun 2022 22:58:10 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/three-new-pubs-for-2022We were busy getting papers out in the first half of 2022:
​
1. Han-Wei's PNAS paper about GLP4 acting as a regulator of early encystation:
     https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2204402119
Picture
2.  Bill's PLOS Pathogens paper on the role of the ventrolateral flange in Giardia attachment: https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010496

Picture
3. Melissa's PLOS Pathogens paper on a new Disc and Actin Associated protein functioning in attachment: https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010433#
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Congratulations Melissa!]]>Tue, 17 Aug 2021 18:40:17 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/congratulations-melissa
Picture
Melissa just finished up her PhD and will soon be off to Stanford to start her postdoc with the Yeh Lab. She will be missed!
]]><![CDATA[Congratulations to Kelly and Bill for successfully defending their theses.]]>Mon, 31 Jul 2017 02:33:37 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/congratulations-to-kelly-and-bill-for-successfully-defending-their-thesesNow they just need to get their theses turned in by August 18th and they will officially be PhD's!
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Bill's PNAS paper on Giardia cytokinesis is out!  The beautiful illustration (our working model) was drawn by former undergraduate researcher Andrew Shelton.]]>Mon, 31 Jul 2017 02:19:46 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/bills-pnas-paper-on-giardia-cytokinesis-is-out-the-beautiful-illustration-our-working-model-was-drawn-by-former-undergraduate-researcher-andrew-sheltonRead the paper here:
​http://www.pnas.org/content/114/29/E5854.abstract
​
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Kelly's Paper is out!]]>Mon, 07 Nov 2016 01:41:08 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/kellys-paper-is-outIdentification and Validation of Small-Gatekeeper Kinases as Drug Targets in Giardia lamblia
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Jana and Elizabeth's study of how Giardia Rac regulates the encystation process is now publisehd!]]>Mon, 29 Aug 2016 19:32:45 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/jana-and-elizabeths-study-of-how-giardia-rac-regulates-the-encystation-process-is-now-publisehdRead the paper at mBio.


Picture
]]><![CDATA[Elizabeth Thomas joins the lab!]]>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 05:52:41 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/elizabeth-thomas-joins-the-labWelcome Elizabeth!
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Postdoc Ad is live]]>Sun, 08 Feb 2015 21:53:14 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/postdoc-ad-is-live
As mentioned before we have an NIH funded postdoctoral research position available.  The advertisement has been officially approved and the advertisement has been posted at the  ASCB job board and the UW Employment page.  
]]><![CDATA[Alex receives first major grant and now we need to hire a postdoc.]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2015 05:12:55 GMThttp://paredezlab.biology.washington.edu/news/alex-receives-first-major-grant-and-now-we-need-to-hire-a-postdocThe future looks bright for the Paredez Lab.  My first R01 has been awarded (R01AI110708).  Many thanks to the Pathogenic Eukaryotes study section (PTHE) and The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).  Now we need to find another postdoc to help with the project (description below)

Project Summary/Abstract
Giardiasis, the disease caused by the eukaryotic parasite Giardia lamblia, is the most common intestinal parasitic disease in the U.S. and a major cause of morbidity in children throughout the world; estimates indicate 280 million cases of Giardia annually. Newly emerging drug-resistant strains are proving difficult to treat, and the front-line treatment, metronidazole, has a high incidence of side effects. Therefore, there is a critical need for anti-Giardia drugs that target novel molecular pathways. Giardia belongs to one of the earliest diverging groups of eukaryotes and is therefore quite divergent from metazoans. Opportunities for developing targeted therapeutics exist within this divergent biology. This proposal explores the biology of Rho family GTPases in Giardia. These proteins act as molecular switches that control essential cellular processes. Giardia contains a single Rho family GTPase homolog, gRac, previously demonstrated to play a conserved role in regulating polarity, membrane trafficking, and the cytoskeleton, all of which are essential to viability and pathogenesis. Functional assays have demonstrated that gRac plays a role in cyst formation.  This process requires pulsed production, processing, and secretion of cyst wall protein (CWP) to make environmentally resistant cysts and is the only known regulated secretory pathway in Giardia. Rho GTPases are known to regulate ER-Golgi transport and secretory events in plants and animals. How CWP secretion is triggered in Giardia remains enigmatic, yet gRac is a likely candidate for regulating this process. Aim 1 of this proposal identifies the specific role of gRac in infectious cyst formation by following cyst wall markers through the secretory process. Also unknown is how gRac signaling is linked to downstream processes, previously unidentified downstream effectors (Giardia-specific or potentially ancient and undiscovered) are hypothesized to link gRac signaling to the cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking. Using affinity purification and mass spectroscopy, 199 putative gRac interactors were identified. Aim 2 proposes to validate four of these gRac interactors as downstream effectors of membrane trafficking and/or the cytoskeleton through microscopy and knockdown studies. Upstream of gRac is a set of six gRac modulators that act to activate or inhibit gRac signaling. Aim 3, proposes to determine their contribution to gRac signaling and identify specific biological roles for each modulator using a combination of depletion studies and assays to measure cell proliferation, parasite attachment, and the ability to form infectious cysts. The proposed experiments are expected to define the central role of gRac in Giardia biology and pave the way toward discovery of novel therapeutic targets. Furthermore, because the Giardia genome contains only a single Rho GTPase and a handful of upstream modulators, the system is highly tractable and may uncover fundamental biology that has been obscured by the more complex signaling systems found in model eukaryotes.    ]]>