Hi all, I'd like to share some news - I will soon be moving to Lisbon, Portugal to start my very own lab @gimminstitute.bsky.social! The Epithelial Biology of Apicomplexan Infections lab (Epi-Api lab for short) will focus on the special relationship between #epithelial cells and #Cryptosporidium.

Registration and abstract submission is now open for the 2nd Biennial Cryptosporidium Meeting is now open. Deadline April 1st: eventbrite.co.uk/e/2nd-bienni... Submit your abstract by Feb 15th. See you in Edinburgh, May 24th-26th, 2026!

2nd Biennial Cryptosporidium Meeting

We welcome you to join us in Edinburgh for a chance to network with colleagues and share your cutting-edge Cryptosporidium research.

eventbrite.co.uk

Belated congratulations to our award winning ladies: Tapoka Mkandawire (Unsung Hero) and Bishara Marzook (Scientific Achievement)!

Excited to release the Herculean efforts of @scottchisholm.bsky.social &Co. defining the subcellular #hyperLOPIT spatial proteome of #Plasmodium schizonts. Proteomes defining 24 subcellular niches, including exported compartments in the blood cell, are identified. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Crick group leaders work across disciplines, supported by core funding and mentoring to build ambitious, curiosity-driven research. Apply now to join us ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Interested in human parasites? Intestinal immunity? Epithelial cell biology? Designing genetic screens? If so, we are interested in you! Our institute is a really fantastic place to get your PhD - a supportive scientific community and wide ranging resources all under one roof 👇

The Francis Crick Institute@crick.ac.uk · 10mo ago

Motivated graduates with backgrounds in biological or biomedical sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and/or computer science are invited to apply to our 4-year fully funded PhD programme. Apply by 05 November 2025 www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...

Who-cysts? OOCYSTS! That's right, it's almost time for ❄️Coccidia UK 2025❄️ Your one-stop shop (/conference) for all like-minded sporulating apicomplexan parasites! This year we're in London @crick.ac.uk, looking forward to welcoming parasitologists from across the UK. Register- tinyurl.com/4ny5bwu2

CoccidiaUK 2025 registration

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: NOVEMBER 7th Event Timing: December 8th 9am-5pm December 9th 9am-12pm Event Address: The Francis Crick Institute Questions? please email ada...

tinyurl.com

From nutrient acquisition to drug resistance, membrane transport is especially important for intracellular parasites! This review will help you stay up-to-date on the latest transport research for crypto/malaria/toxo: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Now available in a polished format! An important step toward accelerated functional genomics for the Cryptosporidium parasite. Brought to you by the incomparable @lucy-watson.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Targeted CRISPR screens reveal genes essential for Cryptosporidium survival in the host intestine - Nature Communications

Cryptosporidium is an important threat to public health, yet it lacks a robust genetic toolkit. Here, Watson et al. introduce a targeted CRISPR-based screening method to identify parasite genes that a...

nature.com

The talented @ghostpathogen.bsky.social recently discussed Cryptosporidium and aspirations for a new treatment on the Naked Scientists Podcast: www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...

A fun little review of convergent mechanisms in pathogenesis 🦠 We really enjoyed putting this together and I think it comes through on the page @elena-l-r.bsky.social @ghostpathogen.bsky.social & Mitch Pallett dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Convergent mechanisms of epithelial cell structure manipulation by intestinal pathogens

The epithelial layer that lines the digestive system serves as the primary barrier to infection by intestinal pathogens. While this layer has evolved complex molecular mechanisms to identify and respo...

dx.plos.org

We are so excited to see the new avenues for research this will create! 👏👏👏 @ghostpathogen.bsky.social @lottabaumgaertel.bsky.social @netanyabernitz.bsky.social @tapokam.bsky.social @lucy-watson.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk

bishara marzook@ghostpathogen.bsky.social · last yr.

Our paper has finally graduated from pre-print to peer-reviewed, pretty much unscathed, and is out now! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Very nice to see this work highlighted by Dr Ward, whose research continues to shape ours

Trends in Parasitology@cp-trendsparasitol.bsky.social · last yr.

Dr Honorine Ward highlights Adam Sateriale & colleagues’ @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social article on a #virulence factor, #Cryptosporidium #MVP1, modulating #intestinal #microvilli by interacting with host #EBP50 & #CDC42. @tuftsmedicalcenter.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/a/1lH505Eb1x...

June was a productive month: brought two things into this world, both of which were great collaborative efforts and about nine months in the making. Check out where we map P. falciparum genome architecture at high resolution with Micro-C here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Better late than never, but I am thrilled to share our newest research from the Treeck lab!!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The fast-evolving FIKK kinase family of Plasmodium falciparum can be inhibited by a single compound - Nature Microbiology

FIKK effector kinases underwent rapid evolutionary expansion and are a druggable target in Plasmodium falciparum.

nature.com

Crick researchers have uncovered how the intestinal Cryptosporidium parasite uses a protein to alter its host’s gut environment, enabling the parasite to survive and replicate. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-04...

Researchers uncover how intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium alters host cells

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have shown that the Cryptosporidium parasite exports a protein into infected intestinal cells, altering the gut environment and enabling the parasite to surv...

crick.ac.uk

🔥 Open postdoc position in human inflammation-driven control of infection! 🔥 Join me at the University of Geneva, Switzerland this summer as I’m moving my Wellcome-funded research activity to the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine! (1/5) Please share!

Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an exported virulence factor!! Phenomenal work from the newly DR’ed Elena Rodrigues www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an exported virulence factor

Cryptosporidium is a common intestinal infection of vertebrates and a significant threat to public health. Within the epithelial layer of the intestine, the parasite invades and replicates. Infected cells are readily detected under the microscope by the presence of elongated microvilli, particularly around the vacuole where the parasite resides. Here, we identify a family of Cryptosporidium virulence factors that are exported into the host cell during infection and localise to the microvilli. We examine the trafficking and function of the most highly expressed family member, MVP1, which appears to control the elongation of microvilli through engagement of host EBP50 and CDC42. Remarkably, this mechanism closely mirrors that of an enteropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence factor, MAP, which is also known to drive host microvilli elongation during infection. This highlights a unique instance where eukaryotic and prokaryotic virulence factors have convergently evolved to modulate host actin structures through a similar mechanism. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

biorxiv.org

👏👏👏 @ghostpathogen.bsky.social

bishara marzook@ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 2y ago

Have you ever wondered how knocking out every single gene in the human genome, one by one, might affect your intracellular pathogen of interest? We did, & boy was it a wild ride! Happy to share our preprint discovering the essential host genome for Cryptosporidium - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Cryptosporidium is an important public health threat, and it deserves better genetic tools to study it! Here we’ve developed a targeted in vivo CRISPR genetic screen to identify parasite genes required for survival and virulence… www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Register now for the London Infection & Immunity Symposium! #LondonInfectImmun 📅 16-17 September 🎟️ Online or in-person 👩‍🎓 Discounted student tickets For more information or to register ⬇️ www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/lon...

London Infection & Immunity Symposium 2024

crick.ac.uk

Filling up on our 3Cs in Philly: crypto, colleagues, and cheesesteaks! Thanks to Boris Striepen and Chris Hunter for a truly inspiring first #Cryptosporidium conference

Had a blast at #CoccidianDayUK23. Great to hear the exciting parasite research going on. Thanks @clarehardinglab.bsky.social for organising & allowing us to share our work: Mitch Pallett, Lotta Baumgärtel, @ghostpathogen.bsky.social, Lucy Watson, Elena Rodrigues. Still recovering from the ceilidh!

New preprint! A short paper on hospitalprescriptions.genomium.org: my new tool that lets you interact with 17 million data points on the prescribing of medicines within English hospitals. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Happy to share our paper on Cryptosporidium, AHR, and dietary indoles - finally out today! We are particularly excited about our study's findings on using I3C as a potential anti-Cryptosporidial prophylactic. Read the tweetorial by @ghostpathogen.bsky.social below for more 👇

bishara marzook@ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 3y ago

Got a bsky account just in time to share our paper on Cryptosporidium and CD8+ IELs out today! If you are interested in small intestinal damage models, intraepithelial lymphocytes, or dietary indole supplements as potential anti-Crypto prophylactics, please read on! www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Hello Bluesky world! Happy to be here 💙