Kafatos:Meister, Stephan

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Stephan Meister Laboratory of Insect Immunogenomics Dept. of Biological Sciences Division of Cell & Molecular Biology South Kensington Campus, SAF London, SW72AZ UK fourth floor, desk 483 s.meister[at]imperial.ac.uk stephan.meister[at]embl.de

EMBL PhD student at Imperial College in the Kafatos/Christophides Lab.

note: Presently, I'm on the lookout for postdoctoral positions, so if you know of a vacant one in the general areas of either malaria, innate immunity and signaling - by all means, drop me a line.

Research Interests

The role of PGRP proteins in innate immunity pathways in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae.

The Anopheles gambiae peptidoglycan recognition protein (PGRP) gene family consists of 7 genes with 13 PGRP domains. We analyze the role of these genes in the mosquito immune defense to bacteria and the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei. We have previously shown that the NF-κB transcription factor REL2 is involved in defense against both types of bacteria and malaria parasites [1]. IMD is only responsible for the reaction against Gram-positive bacteria and Plasmodium. Our data suggests significant divergence as well as many similarities of immune signaling between Anopheles gambiae and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The differences most likely reflect the different lifestyles of the two insects and, consequently, different infectious agents that the two insects encounter during their lifetimes. In mosquitoes, one of these agents is the malaria parasite Plasmodium.

Education

• 2001-present, PhD student, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany.
• 1999-2000 visiting graduate student at Duke University, NC, USA.
• 1996-2001, Diplom Biol., University of Wuerzburg, Germany.

Poster

BioMalPar Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, 2006

BDV Course, Colorado, USA 2004

EMBO PRR Workshop, Trest by Prague 2003

Publications

1. Meister S, Kanzok SM, Zheng XL, Luna C, Li TR, Hoa NT, Clayton JR, White KP, Kafatos FC, Christophides GK, and Zheng L. Immune signaling pathways regulating bacterial and malaria parasite infection of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Aug 9;102(32):11420-5. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0504950102 |

2. Meister S, PhD Thesis, EMBL/University of Heidelberg, 2006.

3. Meister S, Koutsos AC, and Christophides GK. The Plasmodium parasite--a 'new' challenge for insect innate immunity. Int J Parasitol. 2004 Dec;34(13-14):1473-82. DOI:10.1016/j.ijpara.2004.10.004 |
4. Kumar S, Christophides GK, Cantera R, Charles B, Han YS, Meister S, Dimopoulos G, Kafatos FC, and Barillas-Mury C. The role of reactive oxygen species on Plasmodium melanotic encapsulation in Anopheles gambiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Nov 25;100(24):14139-44. DOI:10.1073/pnas.2036262100 |
5. Christophides GK, Zdobnov E, Barillas-Mury C, Birney E, Blandin S, Blass C, Brey PT, Collins FH, Danielli A, Dimopoulos G, Hetru C, Hoa NT, Hoffmann JA, Kanzok SM, Letunic I, Levashina EA, Loukeris TG, Lycett G, Meister S, Michel K, Moita LF, Müller HM, Osta MA, Paskewitz SM, Reichhart JM, Rzhetsky A, Troxler L, Vernick KD, Vlachou D, Volz J, von Mering C, Xu J, Zheng L, Bork P, and Kafatos FC. Immunity-related genes and gene families in Anopheles gambiae. Science. 2002 Oct 4;298(5591):159-65. DOI:10.1126/science.1077136 |
6. Holt RA, Subramanian GM, Halpern A, Sutton GG, Charlab R, Nusskern DR, Wincker P, Clark AG, Ribeiro JM, Wides R, Salzberg SL, Loftus B, Yandell M, Majoros WH, Rusch DB, Lai Z, Kraft CL, Abril JF, Anthouard V, Arensburger P, Atkinson PW, Baden H, de Berardinis V, Baldwin D, Benes V, Biedler J, Blass C, Bolanos R, Boscus D, Barnstead M, Cai S, Center A, Chaturverdi K, Christophides GK, Chrystal MA, Clamp M, Cravchik A, Curwen V, Dana A, Delcher A, Dew I, Evans CA, Flanigan M, Grundschober-Freimoser A, Friedli L, Gu Z, Guan P, Guigo R, Hillenmeyer ME, Hladun SL, Hogan JR, Hong YS, Hoover J, Jaillon O, Ke Z, Kodira C, Kokoza E, Koutsos A, Letunic I, Levitsky A, Liang Y, Lin JJ, Lobo NF, Lopez JR, Malek JA, McIntosh TC, Meister S, Miller J, Mobarry C, Mongin E, Murphy SD, O'Brochta DA, Pfannkoch C, Qi R, Regier MA, Remington K, Shao H, Sharakhova MV, Sitter CD, Shetty J, Smith TJ, Strong R, Sun J, Thomasova D, Ton LQ, Topalis P, Tu Z, Unger MF, Walenz B, Wang A, Wang J, Wang M, Wang X, Woodford KJ, Wortman JR, Wu M, Yao A, Zdobnov EM, Zhang H, Zhao Q, Zhao S, Zhu SC, Zhimulev I, Coluzzi M, della Torre A, Roth CW, Louis C, Kalush F, Mural RJ, Myers EW, Adams MD, Smith HO, Broder S, Gardner MJ, Fraser CM, Birney E, Bork P, Brey PT, Venter JC, Weissenbach J, Kafatos FC, Collins FH, and Hoffman SL. The genome sequence of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Science. 2002 Oct 4;298(5591):129-49. DOI:10.1126/science.1076181 |
7. Dimopoulos G, Christophides GK, Meister S, Schultz J, White KP, Barillas-Mury C, and Kafatos FC. Genome expression analysis of Anopheles gambiae: responses to injury, bacterial challenge, and malaria infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Jun 25;99(13):8814-9. DOI:10.1073/pnas.092274999 |
8. Dunipace L, Meister S, McNealy C, and Amrein H. Spatially restricted expression of candidate taste receptors in the Drosophila gustatory system. Curr Biol. 2001 Jun 5;11(11):822-35. DOI:10.1016/s0960-9822(01)00258-5 |

9. Meister S, Diploma Thesis, University of Wuerzburg, 2001.