About

Years: 2019-2020

Training Site: Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

Country: Peru

Mentors: Patricia Sheen, PhD; Robert Gilman, MD; Claudia Herrera, PhD; Eric Dumonteil, PhD

Title: “Investigation into the multiclonality of Trypanosoma cruizi discrete typing units”

Program Objectives:

Aim 1: To map the multiclonality of Trypanosoma cruzi infections in samples from the “Predictors of cardiomyopathy progression in Chagas disease cohort in Bolivia” study (Gilman, RH: R01AI107028) using the hypervariable region of the mini-exon gene and an improved method for deep-sequencing to map inter- and intra- genetic variability of discrete typing units.

Aim 2: Determine if there is an association between multiclonality of T. cruzi infections and the clinical manifestations measured in the “Predictors of cardiomyopathy progression in Chagas disease cohort in Bolivia” study.

Aim 3: Determine if there is an association between multiclonality of T. cruzi infections and the biomarkers determined by the “Predictors of cardiomyopathy progression in Chagas disease cohort in Bolivia” study.

NIH Support: Fogarty fellow postdoctoral training award