10% of global child mortality is due to diarrheal disease. We now understand the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium to be a leading cause of this burden with a particular grave impact on malnourished infants and toddlers. Boris Striepen’s laboratory has pioneered molecular genetics for this previously intractable pathogen. The lab uses genetics and genomics to understand fundamental parasite cell and molecular biology.

Name: Jack Cerchiara, PhD

Title: Telomere maintenance and corticosterone in Magellanic penguins

Metamorphosis of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is regulated by two hormones, ecdysone and juvenile hormone (JH). The developing eye and optic lobe (OL) present a unique challenge to this hormonal control because the eye forms progressively over a two day period and the resulting wave of photoreceptor ingrowth directs a corresponding wave of neural organization to the underlying OL. These waves of development occur during phasic pulses of both ecdysone and JH.