Tapahtumakalenteri

Robert received his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology of Epithelial cells in 1992 from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. From 1992-1996, he was a postdoc with Martin Embley at the Natural History Museum, London, UK, working on the molecular evolution of ciliates. In then obtained two consecutive Wellcome Trust Fellowships, a Career development Fellowship, followed by a University Award, which allowed him to focus his research on the molecular and cellular evolution of microbial parasites. Since 2004 his lab is based at Newcastle University and he is Professor of Evolutionary Parasitology since 2013. His work aims at deciphering the origins of molecular and cellular features of important human and animal parasites and by doing so contributes to: (i) Understanding the molecular and cellular basis of their pathogenicity, including zoonotic potential; (ii) Generating a more comprehensive picture of the eukaryotic condition, its origins and molecular and cellular diversity; and (iii) Identify genetic traits shared across important mucosal pathogens and mutualists. Robert will present some recent and ongoing work on Microsporidia and Trichomonads infecting animal and humans. 

Welcome to this exciting seminar!  

Heli Mönttinen 

Selected publications: 

Margarita V, Bailey N, Rappelli P, Diaz N, Dessì D, Fettweis JM, Hirt RP and Fiori PL (2022). Two different species of Mycoplasma endosymbionts can influence Trichomonas vaginalis pathophysiology. mBio, in press.

Handrich MR, Garg SG, Sommerville EW, Hirt RP, Gould SB (2019). Characterization of the BspA and Pmp protein family of trichomonads. Parasites and Vectors, 12: 406.

Major P, Sendra K, Dean P, Williams TA, Watson AK, Thwaites DT, Embley TM, Hirt RP (2018). A new family of cell surface located purine transporters in Microsporidia and related fungal endoparasites. eLife, 8:e47037.

Dean P, Sendra K, Williams TA, Watson AK, Major P, Nakjang S, Kozhevnikova E, Goldberg AV, Kunji ER, Hirt RP, Embley TM (2018). Transporter gene acquisition and innovation in the evolution of Microsporidia intracellular parasites. Nature Communications, 9: 1709.

Hirt RP, Alsmark C and Embley TM (2015). Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites Current Opinion in Microbiology, 23: 155-162.