Sateriale Lab

Save the date, next Cryptosporidium meeting in Edinburgh May 22-24, 2026. Register for email updates via the QR code below.

From nutrient acquisition to drug resistance, membrane transport is especially important for intracellular parasites! This review will help you stay up-to-date on the latest transport research for crypto/malaria/toxo: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Targeted CRISPR screens reveal genes essential for Cryptosporidium survival in the host intestine - Nature Communications Cryptosporidium is an important threat to public health, yet it lacks a robust genetic toolkit. Here, Watson et al. introduce a targeted CRISPR-based screening method to identify parasite genes that a...

Now available in a polished format! An important step toward accelerated functional genomics for the Cryptosporidium parasite. Brought to you by the incomparable @lucy-watson.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The talented @ghostpathogen.bsky.social recently discussed Cryptosporidium and aspirations for a new treatment on the Naked Scientists Podcast: www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...

Convergent mechanisms of epithelial cell structure manipulation by intestinal pathogens The epithelial layer that lines the digestive system serves as the primary barrier to infection by intestinal pathogens. While this layer has evolved complex molecular mechanisms to identify and respo...

A fun little review of convergent mechanisms in pathogenesis 🦠 We really enjoyed putting this together and I think it comes through on the page @elena-l-r.bsky.social @ghostpathogen.bsky.social & Mitch Pallett dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

We are so excited to see the new avenues for research this will create! 👏👏👏 @ghostpathogen.bsky.social @lottabaumgaertel.bsky.social @netanyabernitz.bsky.social @tapokam.bsky.social @lucy-watson.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk

Very nice to see this work highlighted by Dr Ward, whose research continues to shape ours

June was a productive month: brought two things into this world, both of which were great collaborative efforts and about nine months in the making. Check out where we map P. falciparum genome architecture at high resolution with Micro-C here:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The fast-evolving FIKK kinase family of Plasmodium falciparum can be inhibited by a single compound - Nature Microbiology FIKK effector kinases underwent rapid evolutionary expansion and are a druggable target in Plasmodium falciparum.

Better late than never, but I am thrilled to share our newest research from the Treeck lab!!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Researchers uncover how intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium alters host cells Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have shown that the Cryptosporidium parasite exports a protein into infected intestinal cells, altering the gut environment and enabling the parasite to surv...

Crick researchers have uncovered how the intestinal Cryptosporidium parasite uses a protein to alter its host’s gut environment, enabling the parasite to survive and replicate.

www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-04...

🔥 Open postdoc position in human inflammation-driven control of infection! 🔥
Join me at the University of Geneva, Switzerland this summer as I’m moving my Wellcome-funded research activity to the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine! (1/5)

Please share!

and welcome to bluesky @elena-l-r.bsky.social 👏👏👏

There is (A LOT) more in the manuscript! Please have a look for yourself!

a man in a suit and tie with the words pretty cool on the bottom right ALT: a man in a suit and tie with the words pretty cool on the bottom right

So, it appears this is a unique case of eukaryotic and prokaryotic virulence factors that have convergently evolved to drive the same host phenotype through a similar mechanism… pretty cool

Follow-up experiments confirmed that MVP1 controls microvilli elongation during Cryptosporidium infection!

…mirroring the host interactions of the pathogenic E. coli virulence factor MAP... WHICH IS ALSO KNOWN TO DRIVE MICROVILLI ELONGATION 🤯

When we dove into the function of the most highly expressed family member, MVP1, we discovered interactions with host actin modulators EBP50 and CDC42…

Here, we describe a new family of virulence factors that the parasite exports into the host cell following infection that… localise to the microvilli! We named this new family the MicroVilli Proteins or MVPs. 😉

During a Cryptosporidium infection it’s easy to find intestinal epithelial cells that harbor the parasite… Why? Infected cells have looooooong microvilli... 2-4x the length of uninfected cells (image from the amazing David Ferguson with parasites in color).

Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an exported virulence factor Cryptosporidium is a common intestinal infection of vertebrates and a significant threat to public health. Within the epithelial layer of the intestine, the parasite invades and replicates. Infected cells are readily detected under the microscope by the presence of elongated microvilli, particularly around the vacuole where the parasite resides. Here, we identify a family of Cryptosporidium virulence factors that are exported into the host cell during infection and localise to the microvilli. We examine the trafficking and function of the most highly expressed family member, MVP1, which appears to control the elongation of microvilli through engagement of host EBP50 and CDC42. Remarkably, this mechanism closely mirrors that of an enteropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence factor, MAP, which is also known to drive host microvilli elongation during infection. This highlights a unique instance where eukaryotic and prokaryotic virulence factors have convergently evolved to modulate host actin structures through a similar mechanism. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an
exported virulence factor!! Phenomenal work from the newly DR’ed Elena Rodrigues
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

👏👏👏 @ghostpathogen.bsky.social

👏👏👏 @lucy-watson.bsky.social (and welcome to bluesky)

Please have a look! You'll find a lot of upgrades to existing methods for Cryptosporidium researchers and really cool biology for, well, everyone! 😀

..and parasites emerging without Cp23:

…and with an inducible knockout strain we uncover a role for Cp23 in motility! See if you can spot the emerging (control) parasites:

…we identify the antigen 'Cp23' as essential for survival…

….we then screen a group of potential vaccine candidates to determine their impact on parasite survival….

….we first test this method against the pyrimidine salvage pathway – the genes that parasites use to acquire DNA bases for replication…

Cryptosporidium is an important public health threat, and it deserves better genetic tools to study it! Here we’ve developed a targeted in vivo CRISPR genetic screen to identify parasite genes required for survival and virulence…
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

There are a lot of upgrades to existing methods for Cryptosporidium researchers and really cool biology for, well, everyone! 😁