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| Ashwini S. Kucknoor
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| Assistant Professor of Biology | |
| Office: 205-16 Hayes Biology | |
| Phone: (409)-880-7383 | |
| Email: ashwini.kucknoor@lamar.edu |
Education:
2002 PhD Molecular Biology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1996 MS Plant Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India
1994 BS Agriculture, university of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India
Previous positions:
2002-2007 Post-doctoral fellow, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX
2007-2009 Research Assistant Professor, Washington State University, Pullman WA
Courses taught: Microbiology (BIOL 2420) and Molecular Biology (BIOL 4404, 5401)
Research Interests: Molecular pathogenesis of parasitic protozoan species; Trichomonas vaginalis- the protozoan parasite causing Trichomoniasis which is the most common STD in humans, and Tritrichomonas foetus- causing bovine Trichomoniasis resulting in fetal wastage in cattle.
Interested undergraduate and graduate students looking for laboratory experience in molecular microbiology; please check this site for more updates with specific projects during late spring-summer-2010.
Image from Science magazine Cover: Scanning electron micrograph of Trichomonas vaginalis parasites (gray-green) adhering to vaginal epithelial cells (pink). Attached parasites are flattened and amoeba-like; parasites that do not adhere are pear-shaped. Image: Antonio Pereira-Neves and Marlene Benchimol, Santa Ursula University, Rio de Janeiro
Related Links:
http://www.cdc.gov/STD/Trichomonas/STDFact-Trichomoniasis.htm
http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/trich/TrichBrochure-Mar2009.
Recent publications:
Stark, J.R., G. Judson, J.F. Alderete, V. Mundodi, AS Kucknoor, E.L. Giovannucci, E.A. Platz, K. Fall, T. Kurth, J. Ma, M.J. Stampfer, and L.A. Mucci. 2009. Trichomonas vaginalis infection and prostate cancer incidence and mortality: a prospective study in the physician’s health study. J. Nat. Cancer Inst. 101(20):1406-11.
Kucknoor AS, Mundodi V and Alderete JF. 2009. Genetic identity and differentially expressed genes between Trichomonas vaginalis and Trichomonas tenax. BMC Microbiology. 2009 Mar 18;9(1):58.
Kucknoor AS, V Mundodi, and JF Alderete. 2007. The secreted proteins of Trichomonas vaginalis and vaginal epithelial cell response to secreted and episomally expressed AP65. Cell. Microbiol. 9:2586-25977.
Kucknoor AS, Mundodi V, and JF Alderete. 2005. Adherence to human vaginal epithelial cells signals for increased expression of Trichomonas vaginalis genes. Infect. Immun. 73: 6472-6478.
Kucknoor AS, Mundodi V, and JF Alderete. 2005. Trichomonas vaginalis adherence mediates differential gene expression in human vaginal epithelial cells. Cell. Microbiol. 7:887-897.
Kucknoor AS, Mundodi V, and JF Alderete. 2005. Heterologous Expression in Tritrichomonas foetus of Functional Trichomonas vaginalis AP65 Adhesin. BMC Mol. Biol. 6:5
Mundodi V, Kucknoor AS, Klump DJ, Chang TH and JF Alderete. 2004. Silencing of the ap65 gene reduces adherence to vaginal epithelial cells by Trichomonas vaginalis. Mol. Microbiol. 53:1099-1108.
A member of the Texas State University System