Characterization and exploitation of the heterogeneous family of telomerically encoded Cryptosporidium glycoproteins (HTEG).

Cryptosporidiosis is the predominant cause of parasitic diarrhoea in the UK and a large component of AIDs related deaths worldwide. It is caused by two closely related species of protozoan parasites the zoonotic Cryptosporidium parvum and anthroponotic Cryptosporidium hominis which although similar genetically, diverge phenotypically in respect to host range and virulence. One family of telomerically positioned cryptosporidium genes encodes secreted glycoproteins which diverge substantially in structure and sequence between the two species and which are good examples of rapidly evolving contingency loci. This project will focus on the exploitation of this new family of proteins to produce diagnostic and epidemiologic tools useful clinically and for public health intervention. It will do so by assessing heterogeneity between clinical isolates of Cryptosporidium in order to evaluate how differential expression of these proteins is associated with strain virulence and human immune response, with host preference and with transmission pattern. The student will collaborate with the AQAVALENS consortium, a €9 million funded network of European partners in academia, health and industry coordinated by Paul Hunter, to ensure the use of the new molecular and immunological assays developed can be usefully implemented nationally and internationally in the surveillance of human infective cryptosporidium.