This is the official web site of the NIH-NIAID funded project to study the functional genomics of the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium hominis. This project, launched in August, 2004, is under direction of Dr. Gregory A. Buck at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Drs. L. Shozo Ozaki, Ping Xu, J. Marcelo Alves, Patricio Manque, Myrna Serrano, Fernando Tenjo, Zhenming Chen, and Darrell Mallonee are VCU co-investigators. The VCU team is collaborating in this project with Drs. Giovanni Widmer and Saul Tzipori at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.

The development of DNA microarrays has created new opportunities for studying host-pathogen interaction and gene regulation. Without prior knowledge of gene expression, genes which are over- or underexpressed in response to specific stimuli can be identified, and their level of expression quantified using this technology. Two types of arrays are used in this project:

          1. an array of C. hominis genes
          2. an array of host cell genes

The former is used to study parasite development and differentiation; i.e., gene expression changes associated with differentiation of the parasite or infection of the mammalian host cell. The latter is used to study host cell response to exposure, invasion, and infection by the parasite.

This site provides background and progress on this project and serves as the primary source of the data. Visitors to the site are encouraged to read our data release policy by clicking on the appropriate menu bar to the left of this narrative. (Background on Cryptosporidium)

                                           
                                                                                               Rationale for Functional Genomics-->