Stacy Hung Learn to value yourself

And I’m back!!  Armed with more expertise, I’ll be tackling the wet lab a little more aggressively this time — and for good reason — the parasites are ready to invade Toronto! More precisely, my currently computational lab (with the exception of a single relatively unused lab bench) is soon to be transformed into a Toxoplasma-friendly environment.   My supervisor has recruited myself along with a new post-doc, Verena, whose previous expertise spans the likes of malaria parasites and Trypanosoma, to set up the new laboratory.   This means I’ll need to familiarize myself with the culturing techniques and general know-how of working with Toxoplasma.  It’s been an exciting ride so far, and I’ve already learned how to “passage” the parasites along with their friendly hosts, known as HFF cells.  At the same time, I’ll be continuing my previous experiments with the goal of showing that certain enzymes represent potential drug targets.   Hopefully, the results I get will help me with my next publication which will build on meta-analyses described in my review and utilize findings from my methods paper.  Onwards, we go — let the parasitology games resume.

To complete the more exciting half of my PhD thesis, I will need to experimentally validate my predicted drug targets!  For this, I have been working in collaboration with Toxoplasma geneticist, Dr. Michael Grigg, to examine the activity of my enzyme candidates in these parasites.  I’ve just returned from a 6-week stint at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, which was a fantastic learning experience for both myself and my research.  This was my second time living in the USA for an extended period (the first was for a undergraduate co-op term at Michigan State University), and by far the most rewarding!  Toxoplasma, a close relative of the malaria parasite causing toxoplasmosis in immunocompromised populations, serves as an excellent model for members of the Apicomplexa (large group of single-celled eukaryotic parasites) owing to its genetic amenability and ease of transfection.  Under the microscope Toxoplasma  can  be seen pirouetting and swimming happily amongst each other.  With the gracious assistance of Alex, I have been able to do some preliminary experiments to examine the activity of my enzymes in Toxoplasma.  While much work still needs to be done, I am pleased with my progress and eager to return for more experiments!!

Having just returned from the annual MPM in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, I am now re-invigorated about my research.  The 4 day international conference was attended by 350+ attendees, with 60 talks and 200+ posters.  Parasites of interest varied from Plasmodium falciparum, the etiological agent of malaria to Trypanosome brucei, which causes sleeping sickness.  My poster reviewing my recently developed enzyme prediction tool in the context of resources and tools for studying apicomplexan metabolism attracted an unending audience and in particular, captured the interests of the EuPathDB group.  I was very pleased with the positive response and have a new-found confidence in my research abilities.   Regardless, the conference was a tremendous success and confirmed what great research is being done in the field of parasitology around the world.