BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES
GROUP OF MOLECULAR PARASITOLOGY (GEPAMOL)

GEPAMOL Is a multidisciplinary research group which is dedicated to the study of:

Toxoplasmosis (biological, medical and epidemiological aspects)
Intestinal parasites (Giardiasis and Helminthiasis)

The group is located at the “CIBM” (Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas) a lab facility of 370m2 of surface formed by cell culture rooms, cytometry, real itme PCR, immunochemical, biochemistry and molecular biology sections.

RECENT RESULTS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE GROUP

a. One study in temporal settings of people that lost their house during 1999 earthquake showed that Entamoeba histolytica frequency was very low (0.7%). This study uses a specific ELISA assay with adhesin as antigen that discriminates between E. histolytica and E. dispar. In contrast Giardia frequency was very high (60% of children have cysts and 4% trofozoite forms). Water provision by municipal ducts were significantly associated with Giardia infection. see: Giardiasis in children living in post- earthquake camps from Armenia ( Colombia ). Lora-Suarez F, Marin C, Loango N, Gallego ML, Torres E, González MM,Castaño-Osorio JC,Gómez JE. BMC Public Health. 2002 Mar 14;2(1):5.

b. Our recent study of pregnant women in Quindio, Colombia, found factors that explained attributable risk percent for infection to be eating rare meat (0.26%) and having contact with a cat <6 months of age (0.19%). Drinking bottled water was more significantly protective for the group that did not consume undercooked or raw meat (odds ratio 0.06, 95% confidence interval 0.006–0.560, p = 0.008). We think that drinking water–related factors could explain up to 50% of toxoplasmosis infections in our region Lopez-Castillo CA, Diaz-Ramirez J, Gomez-Marín JE. Risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women in Armenia , Colombia [in Spanish]. Rev Salud Publica ( Bogota). 2005;7:180–90.

c.. In congenital toxoplasmosis we performed a clinical validation of the ID BLOT, a commercial kit for diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis based on western blot principle and we created a new criteria termed immunodensitometry Our recent report found a prevalence of 0.5% of toxoplasma congenital infection in a reference hospital in Colombia. This study found one child who died 1 week after birth. As we had information only on the frequency of deaths in a reference hospital, we carried out a study in a representative sample of all newborns from Quindio and found nearly the same prevalence: 0.6% (see letter in Archives of Disease in Children in response to the paper by Schmidt et al3). Clearly, prevalence is higher in South America than in Europe, but in addition our cases are more symptomatic. In an analysis in 17 children congenitally infected and detected in prenatal and newborn screening programmes, 41% were symptomatic. Two children (11.7%) died before 6 months of age; in four of 13 (30%), there were retinochoroidal lesions with ophthalmological examination and in four of 11 (36%) there was neurological involvement with ultrasound examination. Although only eight children were followed until the first year of life (two died before 6 months of age, thus 7 were lost to follow up), it is obvious that we did not need this period to conclude that our children are more affected than those reported by the group in Lyon (France), where 12% of children had ocular lesion during their first year of follow up. This data were part of the SYROCOT

d.. We have identified four new genes in Toxoplasma:

1: CF453444
TgEST_100118851-3-3-587 TgRHcDNA Toxoplasma gondii cDNA similar to
PutativeTrypsin like serine protease Toxoplasma, MRNA sequence
gi|34475489|gb|CF453444.1|[34475489]

2: CF453443
TgEST_95055621 TgRHcDNA Toxoplasma gondii cDNA similar to Putative
matrixmetalloprotease Toxoplasma, MRNA sequence
gi|34475488|gb|CF453443.1|[34475488]

3: CF369262
secretory PLA2 Toxo1 RH tachyzoite cDNA library Toxoplasma gondii
cDNA similar
to Putative Secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2 Toxo1), MRNA sequence
gi|34232161|gb|CF369262.1|[34232161]

4:   EF452680 Synthetic construct nitric oxide synthase (NOS) gene, partial cds gi|145391444|gb|EF452680.1|[145391444]

MEDICINE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

GILBERTO GONZALEZ Estudiante de Medicina gilberto.gonzalez.lopez@gmail.com

CARLOS CARDOZO Estudiante de Medicina carloscardozo03@hotmail.com

 SPECIFIC RESEARCH TOPICS:

Toxoplasmosis: epidemiological studies, the evaluation of control strategies for congenital toxoplasmosis. The study of clinical and epidemiological aspects of ocular form and the evaluation of new diagnostic tools. We are particularly interested in the molecular characterization of Toxoplasma strains

Giardiosis: Epidemiological studies, surveillance in water and strain characterization

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

GEPAMOL have exchange of information, material or common projects with the Institut de Parasitologie et de Pathologie Tropicale, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France, Vern Caruthers Lab, Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Michigan Medical School Ann Arbor, Michigan,Laboratoire de Pathologie Exotique Lyon France and IFR53 Biomolecules of the University of Reims,