Summer at Stanford

Hi everyone,

This is Jason Melehani. I am spending my summer at Stanford University studying Toxoplasma gondii in Dr. Boothroyd's lab under the direction of Dr. Anita Koshy. One-third of the world's population is estimated to be seropositive for Toxoplasma infection. Mostly, this parasite lays dormant and the infect person remains asymptomatic. However, in cases which the person has a weak immune system such as in pregnancy or HIV infection, the parasite can cause a major systemic infection largely focused in the brain and other organs ultimately resulting in death. My project is focused on trying to understand how this parasite is able to evade the immune system. Preliminary evidence (work done before I joined) suggests that Toxoplasma "injects" proteins into cells in their local immunological environment which turn off expression of cytokines involved in responding to intracellular parasitism. I am working to show this conclusively through capturing the event and quantifying its occurrence.
Both in and out of lab Stanford has been a great experience. The 31 other program participants (including Sergio and Jennifer from UCLA!) are very cool and we all get along great together. We have taken trips to San Francisco and Los Angeles (for the Amgen Symposium) and will be going to the beach in Santa Cruz in two weeks. I don't have any pictures right now but I should have some from SF soon that I will share. I am taking the MCAT (for applying to MD/PhD programs) on July 30th so once that is done summer will be even better!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Jason