Laboratory of Enzymology of Ticks and Tick-borne Pathogens (Daniel Sojka)
Our lab focuses on the study of tick-borne diseases, in particular the study of babesiosis, using Babesia divergens and Babesia microti as model organisms. These red blood cell infecting Apicomplexan parasites belong to the order Piroplasmida, distant relatives of malaria causing Plasmodia. Together with closely related genus Theileria, Babesia parasites represent a worldwide emerging risk to both vertebrate animals and humans (zoonosis). Our research combines biochemical and functional characterization of important enzymes, especially protein kinases and proteases, associated with different phases of the Babesia life cycle to understand their specific roles in the mechanism of invasion, intracellular survival and proliferation, and egress from vertebrate red blood cells, as well as in sexual reproduction in the tick gut and transmission to peripheral tick tissues and back to the vertebrate host. Part of the methodological approach is then to validate the suitability of the studied enzymes as therapeutic targets for the development of the yet missing specific treatment of babesiosis with application especially in veterinary medicine.
