Kissinger Research Group

NIH renewed the Eukaryotic Pathogen Database Bioinformatics Resource Center, EuPathDB.org for up to an additional 5 years. The UGA press release can be found here: https://news.uga.edu/234m-contract-to-bolster-pathogen-genomics-database/.

The first paper analyzing data from the Malaria Host-Pathogen Interaction Center (MaHPIC) has been published!

Kevin Lee, Weiwei Yin, Dalia Arafat, Yan Tang, Karan Uppal, Monica Cabrera-Mora, Alberto Moreno, Esmeralda Meyer, Jeremy DeBarry, Suman Pakala, Vishal Nayak, Jessica C. Kissinger, Dean Jones, Mary Galinski, Mark Styczynski, and Greg Gibson. Integration of Transcriptomics and Metabolomics in a Rhesus Macaque Drug Administration Study Front. Cell Dev. Biol., 08 October 2014 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2014.00054

We welcome Mr. Jay Humphrey to the MaHPIC project Informatics Core. Mr. Humphrey has significant bioinformatics experience from time spent at Georgia Tech and Ensembl Genomes project. Welcome!

We welcome Institute of Bioinformatics Graduate student Shelton Griffin to our research group. Welcome!

Administrate Assistant Ms. Betsy Wenthe had her second child. Welcome to the world, baby Thomas!

We said goodbye to Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Jeremy DeBarry. His fantastic new position is Scientific Analyst for iPlant. He will be missed! We wish him all the best with this next stage of his career.

Jessie Kissinger in a collaborative project with Dr. Guilherme Oliveira wins a CNPq Science Without Borders Award to be carried out at the Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou - FIOCRUZ, MG, Brazil.

Computer Science Graduate Student Mustafa Nural joins the MaHPIC project at increased effort as a Scientific Computing Professional Principal. Welcome!

Visiting students, Juliana Assis Geraldo and Francislon Silva de Oliveira have finished their internship and are returning to Brazil after four months of hard and productive work. They will be missed.

Jenna Oberstaller’s ApiAP2 evolution paper was published in NAR.

Dr. Jeremy DeBarry’s work on the fate of genome duplications in the Apicomplexan genome was published in PLoS One.

Sivaranjani Namasivayam was accepted into the Biology of Parasitism course at Woods Hole! She will be gone for 7 weeks learning all the latest in the field.

Undergraduate student Alex Winkles joins the research group to work on Sarcocystis annotation. Welcome!

MaHPIC publishes its first paper Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.​​​

Brazilian Master’s students Juliana Assis Geraldo and Francislon Silva de Oliveira join the research group for a 4 month research training experience. Juliana will assemble the genome of the Brazilian milk cow and Francislon will build the new version of SchistoDB.net Welcome!

The Oberstaller et al., C. parvum gene expression analysis has been published: Here is the link: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/14/516

We would like to welcome Suman Pakala to the Research group. He is joining us from JCVI. He will be working on the Malaria Host-Pathogen interaction Center project. Welcome!

We would like to welcome UGA Computer Science graduate student Mustafa Nural to the Malaria Host-Pathogen interaction Center project. Welcome!

We would like to welcome UGA Computer Science student Michael Cotterell to the Research group. He will be preparing our Web service additions to the Galaxy tool shed this summer. Welcome!

Betsy Wenthe wins the Office of International Education "Open Arms Award" for her help and guidance of International student visitors and the challenges they face. Congratulations !!!!

Graduate student Ranjani Namasivayam has won the Genetics Department Mote award. This will provide her with $1,000 for her research. Congratulations Ranjani!

Undergraduate student Katharine Korunes has been accepted for a summer REU at the University of Wyoming to study molecular evolution with David Liberles. Enjoy!

February 11, 2013

Malaria Host-Pathogen Interaction Center Web Site is released (http://www.systemsbiology.emory.edu/index.html). It marks the beginning of the Systems Biology Project.

Katharine Korunes, Undergraduate Genetics Major, Honor's student and researcher in the lab to present at 27th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) Katharine's abstract submission, "Annotation of the Sarcocystis neurona Genome – Challenges and Lessons Learned," was approved for presentation at NCUR 2013 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Chosen from more than 3,500 submissions, her abstract was deemed to demonstrate a unique contribution to the field of study and is being afforded the opportunity to present her work to her peers, faculty, and staff from around the world.

Graduate student Alok Dhamanaskar has moved on following his Master's degree. He found a programming job in Atlanta that he couldn't pass up. We wish him well.

Our research group is excited to be a part of the MaHPIC project! We along with UGA Assistant Professor Juan Gutierrez will serve as the Informatics Core for the project, collaborating with research groups at Emory, Georgia Tech, and the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to model host-pathogen interactions during malaria infections.

(NIH awards Georgia malaria re search consortium up to $19.4 million contract)

Ms. Janie Wolf has joined the lab as Temporary Administrative Associate. Welcome Janie!

Computer Science graduate student Akshay Choche has joined the Web Service Ontology project. Welcome Akshay!

September 4, 2012

Jessie Kissinger was promoted to full professor! Congratulations Jessie!!!

Jenna Oberstaller successfully defended her Doctoral thesis. Yeah! She will be moving to a Post-doctoral position at the University of Southern Florida with Professor John Adams.

Computer Science student Alok Dhamanaskar successfully defended his Master's thesis.

Web Developer David Falke joins the EuPathDB Team. Welcome aboard!

REU student Brynn Claypoole of UPENN interns with the research group. She will study apicomplexan rRNA.

Allyson Byrd has completed her undergraduate thesis and is off to graduate school at Boston University. She will spend her summer as a Biology of Parasitism course assistant in Woods Hole.

Graduate Student Ousman Mahmud joins the research group. He is working on the Sarcocystis neurona genome.

Genetics graduate student Jenna Oberstaller wins an ARCS fellowship.

Institute of Bioinformatics graduate student Juber Patel will be joining the research group. Welcome!

Institute of Bioinformatics graduate student, Joshua Bridgers successful defende d his Master's thesis entitled "Building a Framework: The Sarcocystis neurona Genome Project"

Undergraduate student Parth Sehgal, a Genetics/Computer Science double major has joined the research group. Welcome!

Dr. Jessie Kissinger is named as the second Director of the Institute of Bioinformatics. She succeeds GRA Eminent scholar Professor Ying Xu. Her position begins on July 1, 2011!

Jenna Oberstaller wins an Ellison TIPS Fellowship to test malaria diagnostic targets we identified in Thailand with Dr. Jetsumon Sattabongkot Prachumsri.

May 11, 2011

Undergraduate researcher, Allyson Byrd has been accepted in the NIH summer internship program. She will be working with Michael Grigg in the laboratory of parasitic diseases.

Post-doc Jeremy DeBarry's research on Apicomplexan genome synteny has just been published in MBE.

Graduate student Jenna Oberstaller and Jeremy DeBarry's work with CDC collaborators to use genomics to define new malaria diagnostic targets has just been published in JCM.

Dr. Fudong Yu and Huayong Xu from SCBIT, Shanghai China and Dr. Adhemar Zerlotini Neto and Eric Aguira of CeBio/CPqRR in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, have arrived to work on a three month project to build enhanced database resources for Schistosoma using EuPathDB tools. Mr. Huayong Xu and Dr. Zerlotini Neto each won travel awards to participate in this project via Schistosoma BWF funds administered by Professor Jim McKerrow.

Susanne Warrenfelz, Ph.D has joined the EuPathDB Team. She will be working on community outreach and aspects of the User Interface. Welcome aboard!

Alok Dhamanaskar, a Master's student in Computer Science has joined the Web service ontology project.

Adhemar Zerlotini and Eric from the Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou - FIOCRUZ and and Dr. Fudong Yu and Huayong Xu of the Shanghai Center for Bioinformation Technology will visit for three months beginning in May to construct database resources for Schistosoma parasites.

Dr. Turgay Ibrikci will be visiting the lab for a short sabbatical from Curkurova University in Turkey beginning in June, 2011. He is interested in computational approaches to understanding gene regulation.

Tess Griffin a graduate student in the Institute of Bioinformatics is rotating in the lab until the end of the semester. She will work on ontology terms for Web services.

Undergraduate Honors student Katharine Korunes will start a research project in the lab. She will work with Dr. Satomi Kato to study the mitochondrial genome in Toxoplasma gondii.

Madhumati Mukherjee, a first-year Genetics graduate student has joined our laboratory for a rotation. She has chosen a bioinformatics project.

Sivaranjani Namasivayam, a Ph.D. student in the Institute of Bioinformatics has joined the Research Group. She will work on the annotation of Sarcocystis neurona genome.

Genetics Undergraduate student Allyson Byrd has joined the research group. She will begin with a bioinformatics project.

Dr. Satomi Kato will be joining the research group on Sept 1, 2010 as a senior post-doctoral researcher. She is currently at the CDC and her research focus is Cryptosporidium.

Dr. Segun Fatumo of Covenant University in Nigeria will be joining our research group for 6 months of collaborative bioinformatics research in July, 2010.

Mr. Raymond Nyasa, a graduate student in Cameroon will be joining our research group for 6 months of bioinformatics training in June, 2010.

Ms. Shaneka Smalls of Atlanta Clarke University will spend the summer with our research group. Her research interest is foodborne pathogens.

NIH funds a collaborative proposal to build integrative tools for Parasite research. This project is a collaboration between the lead PI, Chris Stoeckert at UPENN, Jessie Kissinger and John Miller of UGA and Mark Musen and Natasha Noy of Stanford.

Honors student Jonathan Trebble-Greening joins the Research Group to conduct undergraduate research.

IOB graduate student Joshua Bridgers joins the Research Group. Joshua will work on a genome annotation project.

Genetics Graduate Student Jenna Oberstaller wins an Alton Fellowship! 

Genetics graduate student Jenna Oberstaller wins an Ellison Medical Foundation / Training Innovations in Parasitologic Studies (TIPS) Fellowship from the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases to study malaria diagnosis in Tanzania.

NIH contract funds http://EuPathDB.org for an additional 5 years. EuPathDB is a large collaborative project between David Roos and Chris Stoeckert at the University of Pennsylvania and our lab at UGA.

September 22, 2009

Graduate student Jenna Oberstaller is awarded a slot on the Genetics Department NIH-training grant. Way to go Jenna!

Nandita Mullapudi's thesis research on gene regulation in Toxoplasma to be published in Genome Biology

Jessie Kissinger receives Creative Research Medal. Click here for more info.           

Jessie Kissinger is named a National Associate of the National Research Council of the National Academies in recognition of extraordinary service to the NRC.

Ganesh Srinivasamoorthy will be joining the EuPathDB Project on September 26th.

Betsy Wang will be joining the group as an Administrative Associate September 4th. Welcome!

Taoran Dong, an IOB Ph.D. student has selected our group for her first Rotation!

Adhemar Zerlotini is returning to his native Brazil to complete his Ph.D. We will miss you!

Chih-Horng Kuo's manuscript "Consistent and contrasting properties of lineage-specific genes in the apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium and Theileria" has been published in BMC Evolutionary Biology.

Chih-Horng Kuo successfully defended thesis on March 4th, 2008 and is off to a post-doctoral research position with Howard Ochman and the University of Arizona.

Genetics graduate students Jenna Oberstaller and Wenyuan Xiao join the laboratory for their Ph.D. research.

Jeremy DeBarry will join the laboratory as a post-doctoral researcher in July 2008. He did is Ph.D. at the University of Georgia with Dr. Jeff Bennetzen.

Congratulations to Adhemar. His two submissions, entitled 'From genes to drug targets: Applications for parasitic organisms' and 'Integration and use of Schistosoma mansoni genomic data for the discovery of candidate therapeutic targets', have been accepted to the ISMB 2008 Posters.

Chih-Horng Kuo will defend his Ph.D. thesis "Theoretical investigation of host defense strategy evolution and phylogenomic dissection of apicomplexan parasites" Tuesday March 4th, 2PM in B116 Life Sciences.

Jenna Oberstaller (Genetics Department) will rotate in the lab beginning March 3.

Abhijeet Bakre, Ph.D. and Kathy Couch Jones will be leaving the group in mid-March to further pursue their research and career interests. We will miss them greatly.

Tonya Cox will be joining the lab on March 21th.

Ryan Thibodeau will be joining the ApiDB project on March 17th.

Gregorio Perez Cordon, Ph.D. will be joining the Kissinger Research Group on April 1.

Christopher Ross, a professional web designer, will be joining the ApiDB project on February 4th.

Dr. Cheong Xin Chan's seminar will be Thursday, Jan. 17 12:30-1:45pm in room 341 of the Coverdell Center. The title of the talk will be, "Studying the genomes: a journey from EST in seaweeds to LGT in prokaryotes."

Maryam Panahiazar will be joining the lab as a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics January 7th, 2008.

Dr. Keith Woods of the Univ. of Kansas will visit the lab from Jan 6-Jan 15 to collaborate on a Cryptosporidium gene expression project.

Cheong Xin Chan of the University of Queensland will interview for a molecular evolution post-doctoral position in the lab Jan 16-19.

Dr. Sandeep Joseph will join the laboratory on January 2nd as a post-doctoral fellow studying gene expression in Cryptosporidium.

Wendy Grus (The University of Michigan), a molecular evolution post-doc candidate, will present a seminar - "Evolution of the vomeronasal system viewed through system-specific genes" on October 1, at 4:00pm. Location: Coverdell Center, Room 339.

We welcome Wenyuan Xiao as a Ph.D student in the Genetics department. Wenyuan will be a visitor in our lab until he begins his laboratory rotations.

Post-doctoral positions available! Click here for more info.

Congratulations to Nandita Mullapudi for an excellent seminar and successful defense of her thesis entitled "Identification and functional characterization of cis regulatory elements in the Apicomplexa" 

Congratulations to Chih-Horng Kuo for being awarded a Dissertation Completion Award by the Graduate School. These are very competitive, non-teaching assistantships given to highly qualified doctoral students who are in their final year of study.

Congratulations to Erica Hall, she was named as a first runner up in the UGA Libraries Undergraduate Research Award. She will receive $100 at the CURO Symposium Award Ceremony on April 9th.

Congratulations to Nandita who has just received word that she has won an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.

The Cryptosporidium white paper has been accepted. We will be working with Steve Upton and the Broad to generate C. parvum ESTs. Yeah!!!

Welcome to Philip Berry, a Genetics graduate student rotating in the lab during spring 2007.

Welcome to Adhemar, a visitor from Brazil. He and Adriana will be working on a database project funded by our Fogarty training grant. Adriana will be back to teach him what she has been working on.

Congratulations to undergraduate student Erica Hall who was selected to give a talk on her research at the 21st National Conference on Undergraduate Research in April, 2007. Her talk, "Intracellular Gene Transfer from the Mitochondrion to the Nucleus in Toxoplasma gondii," will be given at Dominican University of California in April 2007.

Graduate student Nandita Mullapudi publishes analyses of Cryptosporidium cis-regulatory elements in BMC Genomics! - Identification of putative cis-regulatory elements in Cryptosporidium parvum by de novo pattern finding; BMC Genomics, Jan 2007.

Lab awarded NIH R01 grant to study genome evolution in the Apicomplexa.

CryptoDB.org release v3.4 - A new User Login process. Preview release of Cryptosporidium sporozoite proteomic data from MS/MS analysis

ApiDB.org release v2.1 - An Integrated Genomics Resource for Apicomplexan Parasites. This release inludes new federated queries.

Doctoral student, Chih-Horng Kuo, received the James L. Carmon Honorarium from the University of Georgia Research Foundation for innovative use of computers.

Abhijeet Bakre, Ph.D. joins the laboratory as a post-doctoral Fellow. His thesis research was on mobile elements in the Entamoeba histolytica genome

First Annual ApiComplexan Database Workshop at UGA!