Microbiology Commons^™

The Development Of A Primer Payload With Microparticles For Uti Pathogen Identification Using Polythymidine- Modified Lamp Primers In Droplet Lamp, Jonas Otoo

KGI Theses and Dissertations

Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are among the diagnostic tests with the highest sensitivity and specificity. However, they are more complex to develop than other diagnostic tests such as biochemical tests and lateral flow immunoassay tests. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the gold standard for NAATs. PCR requires thermal cycling to achieve clonal amplification of the target pathogen DNA for diagnosis. Thermal cycling poses a challenge in the development of PCR diagnostics for point-of-care (POC) settings. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) offers an isothermal method for NAATs diagnostics. The advancement of the microfluidics field significantly enhances the development of LAMP diagnostics …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

Development Of Recombinant Varicella-Zoster Virus Vaccines Expressing Sars-Cov-2 Antigens, Cody Wilson

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) continues to cause infections and deaths around the globe. Since its emergence, scientists have worked diligently to discover and produce vaccines to battle the virus. While they successfully created and distributed vaccines, the vaccines are not without flaw. These vaccines do not grant long term immunity, require multiple booster shots, and have not prevented the emergence of viral variants. In this study, the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD), which is a key part of the spike protein (S), and nucleocapsid (N) genetic sequences were inserted into the live varicella …

Mechanistic Examination Of Protist-Mediated Plant Growth Through The Comparative Development Of Medicago Truncatula, Shane Connolly

University Scholar Projects

Protists are known to increase plant growth through two main mechanisms: the microbial loop and the alteration of the root microbiome. The microbial loop is a nutrient recycling method in which protists provide inorganic nitrogen ions to the plant. Alteration of root microbiome leads to the removal of plant pathogens and shifting communities towards plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). This study aimed to elicit which mechanism could produce the largest boost in shoot weight for Medicago truncatula. A series of microcosm experiments were explored in which M. truncatula was grown with variable microbiome structures to allow for mechanism differentiation. The …

Comparative Analysis Of Rhizosphere And Endosphere Microbiome Of Different Blueberry Species (Vaccinium Sp.), Niladri Bhowmik

Master's Theses

Blueberries are an important agricultural commodity in all over the United States. Due to its health benefits, there is a huge demand globally, thus expanding the industry. Breeding programs are essential to maintain such industries. Challenges that play a role in contemporary breeding programs are various biotic and abiotic stress factors. Studies have shown that microorganisms are recruited by plants to alleviate them during stressful conditions. Though blueberries have been cultivated for about 100 years, how the microbiome has been affected due to this is poorly understood. We hypothesized that interspecific crosses and artificial selection have significantly changed the microbiome …

Causes And Consequences Of Lasr Mutant Selection In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Populations, Dallas L. Mould

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Change is the only constant in life, and these changes, though random in nature, can have consequences. Quorum sensing is heterogeneous in phenotype and prone to negative selection. In P. aeruginosa, the regulator LasR is frequently non-functional in phylogenetically diverse isolates. Through repeated experimental evolution and mathematical modeling, we show that differences in growth enable lasR mutant evolutionary success and this requires a system enabling metabolic choices, known as carbon catabolite repression (or catabolite repression). The differences in catabolite repression between wild type and lasR mutants enable altered metabolite preferences, and the resulting differences in metabolic states enable intraspecies …

Co-Clinical Imaging Metadata Information (Cimi) For Cancer Research To Promote Open Science, Standardization, And Reproducibility In Preclinical Imaging, Stephen M Moore, James D Quirk, Andrew W Lassiter, Richard Laforest, Gregory D Ayers, Cristian T Badea, Andriy Y Fedorov, Paul E Kinahan, Matthew Holbrook, Peder E Z Larson, Renuka Sriram, Thomas L Chenevert, Dariya Malyarenko, John Kurhanewicz, A Mcgarry Houghton, Brian D Ross, Stephen Pickup, James C Gee, Rong Zhou, Seth T Gammon, Henry Charles Manning, Raheleh Roudi, Heike E Daldrup-Link, Michael T Lewis, Daniel L Rubin, Thomas E Yankeelov, Kooresh I Shoghi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Preclinical imaging is a critical component in translational research with significant complexities in workflow and site differences in deployment. Importantly, the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) precision medicine initiative emphasizes the use of translational co-clinical oncology models to address the biological and molecular bases of cancer prevention and treatment. The use of oncology models, such as patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDX) and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs), has ushered in an era of co-clinical trials by which preclinical studies can inform clinical trials and protocols, thus bridging the translational divide in cancer research. Similarly, preclinical imaging fills a translational gap as an …

The Response Of Microcystis And The Microbiome To Exogenous Hydrogen Peroxide, Bryan A. Puma

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Microcystis spp. produce prolific annual blooms in freshwater systems worldwide. The success of these blooms depends heavily on the Microcystis spp. overcoming environmental factors such as oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) like hydrogen peroxide. Most Microcystis genomes do not contain many genes for responding to oxidative stress, including those that encode the enzyme catalase. Other cyanobacteria such as Prochlorococcus that also lack hydrogen peroxide degrading enzymes have been shown to benefit from partnerships with heterotrophic bacteria. Microcystis spp. may also receive similar benefits from heterotrophic bacteria in the phycosphere. To test this hypothesis, we examined the …

Elucidating The Impact Of Sos-Response Timing In On Escherichia Coli Survival Following Treatment With Fluoroquinolone Topoisomerase Inhibitors, Stephanie Schofield

Honors Scholar Theses

Antibiotic treatment failure is a public health crisis, with a 2019 report stating that roughly 35,000 deaths occur in the United States yearly due to bacterial infections that are unresponsive to antibiotics (1). One complication in the treatment of bacterial infection is antibiotic persistence which further compromises our battle to effectively treat infection. Bacterial persisters can exist in clonal bacterial cultures and can tolerate antibiotic treatment by undergoing reversible phenotypic changes. They can survive drug concentrations that their genetically identical kin cannot. Some persisters remain in a slow growing state and are difficult to target with current antibiotics. A specific …

A Critical Assessment Of The Role Of Clpxp-Mediated Proteolysis In The Development And Differentiation Of Chlamydia Trachomatis, Nicholas A. Wood

Theses & Dissertations

Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular human pathogen, is the etiological agent of the most commonly reported bacterial sexually transmitted infection and the leading cause of preventable infectious blindness worldwide. In adapting to an intracellular niche, Chlamydia has evolved to eliminate superfluous genes from its chromosome. Despite its highly reduced genome, Chlamydia undergoes a complex developmental cycle in which the bacteria differentiate between two functionally and morphologically distinct forms: the infectious, non-replicative elementary body (EB) and the non-infectious, replicative reticulate body (RB). An EB initiates infection by binding to and inducing uptake into a host cell. Within the cell, the EB …

The Future Is Now In Twisted Coil Polymer Actuators (Tcpa), Ryan Ronquillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aimed to fabricate and test twisted coiled polymer actuators (TCPA) to understand the mechanical and thermal aspects of this artificial muscle fiber. The purpose of this thesis was to find a linear relationship using the LVDT sensor, fabricating TCPA fibers, and interpreting the data. The project tested whether nylon/polymer could be used as a better artificial muscle fiber.

This research accomplished three goals: (1) designing and fabricating a system capable of creating supercoiled muscle fibers consistently, (2) calibrating the Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) and Core, and (3) analyzing/interpreting the data of the Twisted Coiled Polymer Actuators (TCPA) …

The Role Of Sinorhizobium Meliloti Type Ivb Pili Protein On Legume Nodule Morphology And Infection, Alexis Chun

Honors Thesis

The symbiotic relationship between legumes and rhizobial soil bacteria leads to the conversion of nitrogen gas to biologically available forms of nitrogen. A critical step in this interaction is bacterial attachment to the host root. A variety of factors are involved in attachment, such as the Type IV pili (Tfp). In pathogens, Tfpb mediates tight adherence to host cells, promoting colonization, however in symbiotic interactions, the role of Tfpb–encoded by pilA genes–is not well understood. To assess the role of Tfpb pili during symbiosis, Melilotus alba plants were inoculated with wild type Sinorhizobium meliloti or ΔpilA deletion mutants; roots were …

On The Resurrection Of Microbes: An Eco-Christological Approach To The Resurrection, Denys Janiga Osb

Obsculta

This article attempts to bring ecology and Christology into conversation through a transdisciplinary approach. It looks at the pastoral implications of eco-anxiety, resurrection ecology in the field of biotechnology, Church teaching on the Resurrection, and concludes by initiating an interpretation of the resurrection appearances in the Gospel of Luke through the lens of the microbiome.

Exercise Reprograms The Inflammatory Landscape Of Multiple Stem Cell Compartments During Mammalian Aging, Ling Liu, Soochi Kim, Matthew T Buckley, Jaime M Reyes, Jengmin Kang, Lei Tian, Mingqiang Wang, Alexander Lieu, Michelle Mao, Cristina Rodriguez-Mateo, Heather D Ishak, Mira Jeong, Joseph C Wu, Margaret A Goodell, Anne Brunet, Thomas A Rando

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Exercise has the ability to rejuvenate stem cells and improve tissue regeneration in aging animals. However, the cellular and molecular changes elicited by exercise have not been systematically studied across a broad range of cell types in stem cell compartments. We subjected young and old mice to aerobic exercise and generated a single-cell transcriptomic atlas of muscle, neural, and hematopoietic stem cells with their niche cells and progeny, complemented by whole transcriptome analysis of single myofibers. We found that exercise ameliorated the upregulation of a number of inflammatory pathways associated with old age and restored aspects of intercellular communication mediated …

Effect Of Temperature On The Microbiome Of A Laboratory Reared Colony Of Haemaphysalis Longicornis Ticks, Brianna Mitchell

Poster Presentations

Honors research poster.

Haemaphysalis longicornis is a species of tick native to eastern Asia, including eastern China, Japan, eastern Russia, and Korea. To date, it has invaded and has now established its existence in Australia, New Zealand, and several of the Pacific Islands. This species of tick has recently been introduced to the United States, having a confirmed sighting in November 2017 on a sheep farm in New Jersey and since establishing populations in 18 states along the east coast and Appalachia. Based on the existing locations of H. longicornis in its native regions, as well as in the United …

Immunomodulatory Effects Of Resolvin D2 In A Model Of Infection, Prem Yugandhar Kadiyam Sundarasivarao

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Dysregulated hyperinflammatory host immune response to underlying bacterial infections is a characteristic of sepsis. In sepsis, bacteria often trigger abnormal hyperinflammatory responses which can cause multiple organ failure and if sustained can lead to an immunosuppressive phase where the host is susceptible to secondary infections caused by opportunistic bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). In our studies, we used a 2-hit model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) followed by P. aeruginosa secondary lung infection to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms in the beneficial action of resolvin D2 (RvD2). Resolvins of the D-series are a group of fatty acids known …

Investigating The Role Of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes In Triazole Drug Efficacy And Toxicity In Whole Organism Zebrafish Model, Heather Cosh

Honors College Theses

Invasive fungal infections account for nearly 1.5 million deaths a year and therefore are considered one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The first line of therapy towards these infections are antifungal drugs in the triazole class such as voriconazole, posaconazole, itraconazole, and isavuconazole. However, these antifungal drug therapies fail in a large number of patients and can produce toxic side effects, therefore increasing the risk of mortality worldwide. While prior research has demonstrated the efficacy of these drugs in mitigating fungal growth in vitro, it is unclear why these drugs fail to protect patients infected with fungal …

Determining The Effects Of Maternal Adiposity On Preterm Neonatal Microbiome And Short Chain Fatty Acid Profiles, Dalton James, William A. Clark Phd, Kristy L. Thomas

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The gut microbiota and its metabolites have vast impacts on the human digestive system, immune system, and health outcomes. Short chain volatile fatty acids (SCVFAs) present in feces can be representative of the interactions of the microbiota present in the gut. Low microbiota diversity in the human gut is highly associated with obesity and adverse health outcomes. Furthermore, the maternal microbiome has a direct impact on neonatal microbiota through various pathways such as environment, skin flora, breast milk composition, and vaginal secretions. This study is aimed to further understand the associations between various factors (maternal adiposity, gestational time, length of …

The Effects Of Salt And Temperature On Three Methanogen Species: Implications For Mars, Katy Dunlap

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The question of whether life has ever existed on Mars – either in the past or currently – has been pursued for decades. This debate has been prompted by a variety of discoveries regarding similarities between Mars and Earth and more recently concerns over human extinction. Mars, like Earth, once had large amounts of water, a key ingredient for life. H₂O exists on Mars in various forms now, and it is theorized that there is liquid water beneath the surface as well. Mars also contains salt and is very cold at its surface, pointing researchers towards the idea …

Roles For Mycobacterial Dinb2 In Frameshift And Substitution Mutagenesis, Pierre Dupuy, Shreya Ghosh, Allison Fay, Oyindamola Adefisayo, Richa Gupta, Stewart Shuman, Michael S. Glickman

Publications and Research

Translesion synthesis by translesion polymerases is a conserved mechanism of DNA damage tolerance. In bacteria, DinB enzymes are the widely distributed promutagenic translesion polymerases. The role of DinBs in mycobacterial mutagenesis was unclear until recent studies revealed a role for mycobacterial DinB1 in substitution and frameshift mutagenesis, overlapping with that of translesion polymerase DnaE2. Mycobacterium smegmatis encodes two additional DinBs (DinB2 and DinB3) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes DinB2, but the roles of these polymerases in mycobacterial damage tolerance and mutagenesis is unknown. The biochemical properties of DinB2, including facile utilization of ribonucleotides and 8-oxo- guanine, suggest that DinB2 could be …

Exploring Extreme Viruses With Ken Stedman, Kenneth Stedman

PDXPLORES Podcast

In this episode of PDXPLORES, Ken Stedman, Professor of Biology at Portland State University, discusses his distinguished virology career. From discovering his love of extreme viruses at Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, to heading the Advanced Molecular and Cell Biology Research Laboratory and the eXtreme Virus Lab, Steadman has investigated extreme virus structures, function, genetics, and evolution for more than 25 years. He is the co-founder of the research lab Center for Life in Extreme Environments as well as the Chief Scientific Officer of StoneStable, Inc. Adding to his scientific accomplishments and accolades, Professor Stedman …

Disinfectant Efficacy Against Sars-Cov-2 Surrogates, Bovine Coronavirus And Human Coronavirus Oc43, On Hard And Soft Non-Porous Surfaces, Breanna Kimbrell

All Theses

The novel human coronavirus (HCoV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged from Wuhan, China in the latter part of 2019. The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 amid the most recent COVID-19 pandemic forced countless foodservice establishments (FSEs) across the United States to close, taking a tremendous toll on the foodservice industry. Although primarily transmitted person-to-person, previous studies indicate that the duration of SARS-CoV-2 survival on different environmental surfaces provides adequate time for secondary transmission to occur. To prevent the further spread of SARS-CoV-2, effective disinfection of surfaces in FSEs is necessary. While disinfectants approved for use against SARS-CoV-2 are …

A Cure For Cmb: Empowering Undergrads With Course-Based Research, Aisling Macaraeg

Senior Honors Projects

The Cell and Molecular Biology Department at the University of Rhode Island has a gap between introductory and advanced laboratory courses offered to undergraduate students. The implementation of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) catered towards second- and third-year undergraduate students would benefit both students and faculty. A CMB-based CURE would allow for the integration of all four tracks within the CMB major through hands-on laboratory experience and create a low-stakes environment for students to practice independent experimental thinking. Students

will reinforce basic laboratory skills and be exposed to novel concepts that can be further explored in detail through advanced …

Role Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Exoenzymes S, T, And Y In The Modulation Of Intrinsic Apoptosis In Pulmonary Microvascular Endothelial Cells, Andrea M. Vavrinek

Honors Theses

P. aeruginosa is the most common cause of ventilator-associated pneumonia in ICU patients. P. aeruginosa uses a type III secretion system to inject exoenzymes S, T, U, and Y into host cells, exhibiting unique effects. Pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) are used to evaluate cellular changes caused by exoenzymes. ExoY infection of PMVECs leads to cell rounding but does not lead to cell death, unlike ExoS/T. The current study evaluated the exoenzyme-induced modulation of intrinsic apoptosis in endothelial cells. Strain PAK, producing ExoS, T, and Y, was compared to isogenic strains expressing either S, SY, T, TY, Y, or none …

Impacts Of Bacterial Evolution On Host Lethality In Drosophila, Andrew Preston

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Evolution is the process by which species change their genetic traits, such as the pathogenicity of bacteria, over time in response to changes in their environment. Although the genetic mechanisms underlying many evolutionary processes have been revealed, it is still not well understood how opportunistic pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, become virulent. The overall goal of this thesis is to test the Coincidental Evolution Hypothesis, which proposes that the virulence of opportunistic pathogens evolves coincidentally as a by-product of their interaction with their natural predators. I hypothesized that the virulence of ancestral Pseudomonas aeruginosa changes over time if it co-evolves …

Biochemical Characterization Of Fsa1572 From Fervidibacter Sacchari, The First Hyperthermophilic Gh50 With Β-1, 4-Glucanase Activity, Jonathan Covington

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The bacterium Fervidibacter sacchari is an aerobic hyperthermophile that catabolizes various polysaccharides and is the only cultivated member of the class Fervidibacteria within the phylum Armatimonadota. Among its glycoside hydrolase (GH) cache is an enzyme from GH family 50 (GH50), an understudied family with only 25 characterized representatives and two known activities from 1,518 predicted members in the Carbohydrate-Active EnZyme (CAZy) Database. Here, we expressed, purified, and functionally characterized an extracellular GH50 from F. sacchari called Fsa1572. Using colorimetric assays, we show it has novel β-1,4-glucanase activity and only weak agarose activity that is typical for GH50 enzymes. The purified …

Poop! There It Is! Anti-Germinants And Biological Variables As Modulators Of Clostridioides Difficile Infection (Cdi), Jacqueline Renee Phan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Due to its insidious nature, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared CDI an urgent threat. A key characteristic of C. difficile is its ability to form dormant spores that act as the infectious vehicles for disease. In the gut, spores recognize bile salts to germinate into toxin-producing cells.Dysbiosis of the gut microbiome is a key factor in allowing the C. difficile spores to germinate. Normal gut microbiota naturally protects from CDI. However, biological variables such as diet and sex have been found to modulate to …

Understanding The Role Of Heterodisulfide Reductase During Nitrogen Fixation By Methanosarcina Acetivorans, Grant Shelnut

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Methanosarcina acetivorans is a methanogenic archaeon (methanogen) that is important for several processes in our biosphere. A feature of interest within this methanogen is the enzyme nitrogenase which catalyzes the reduction of unusable dinitrogen gas (N₂) into a usable form of nitrogen, ammonia (NH₃). How electrons are transferred within M. acetivorans to nitrogenase during N₂ reduction is unknown. Heterodisulfide reductase (Hdr) is a key enzyme known to reduce the electron carrier protein ferredoxin, which is a direct electron donor to nitrogenase in bacteria. I hypothesized that cytoplasmic HdrA2B2C2 functions in electron transfer to nitrogenase and …

An Ecological Perspective Of American Rodent-Borne Orthohantavirus Surveillance, Nathaniel Mull

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orthohantaviruses are a global group of viruses found primarily in rodents, though several viruses have also been found in shrews and moles. Many rodent-borne orthohantaviruses are capable of causing one of several diseases in humans, and the mortality associated with these diseases ranges from < 0.1% - 50% depending on the specific etiological virus. In North and South America, orthohantavirus research was ignited by an outbreak of severe disease in the Four Corners region of the United States in 1993. However, despite the discovery of over 20 orthohantaviruses in the Americas, our understanding of orthohantavirus ecology and virus-host dynamics in this region is still limited, and orthohantavirus surveillance is generally restricted in scope to select regions and small portions of host distributional ranges. In Chapter I, I present a literature review on the current understanding of American rodent-borne orthohantavirus ecology. This review focused on under-studied orthohantaviruses, addressing gaps in knowledge by extrapolating information from well-studied orthohantaviruses, general rodent ecology, and occassionally from Eurasian orthohantavirus-host ecology. There were several key conclusions generated from this review that warrant further research: 1) the large number of putative orthohantaviruses and gaps in orthohantavirus evolution necessitate further surveillance and characterization, 2) orthohantavirus traits differ and are more generalizable based on host taxonomy rather than geography, and 3) orthohantavirus host species are disproportionately found in grasslands and disturbed habitats. In Chapter II, I present a prioritized list of rodent species to target for orthohantavirus surveillance based on predictive modeling using machine learning. Probable orthohantavirus hosts were predicted based on traits of known orthohantavirus hosts using two different types of evidence: RT-PCR and virus isolation. Predicted host distributions were also mapped to identify geographic hotspots to spatially guide future surveillance efforts. In Chapter III, I present a framework for understanding and predicting orthohantavirus traits based on reservoir host phylogeny, as opposed to the traditional geographic dichotomy used to group orthohantaviruses. This framework establishes three distinct orthohantavirus groups: murid-borne orthohantaviruses, arvicoline-borne orthohantaviruses, and non-arvicoline cricetid-borne orthohantaviruses, which differ in several key traits, including the human disease they cause, transmission routes, and virus-host fidelity. In Chapter IV, I compare rodent communities and orthohantavirus prevalence among grassland management regimes. Sites that were periodically burned had high rodent diversity and a high proportion of grassland species. However, rodent seroprevalence for orthohantavirus was also highest in burned sites, representing a trade-off in habitat management outcomes. The high seroprevalence in burned sites is likely due to the robust populations supported by the high quality habitat resulting from prescribed burning. In Chapters V and VI, I describe Ozark virus and Sager Creek virus, two novel orthohantaviruses discovered from specimens collected during Chapter IV. Both chapters report full genome sequences of the respective viruses and compare both nucleotide and protein phylogenies with related orthohantaviruses. Additionally in Chapter VI, I support the genetic analyses with molecular and ecological characterizations, including seasonal fluctuations in host abundance, correlates of prevalence, evidence of virus shedding, and information on host cell susceptibility to Sager Creek virus.

Potency Of Novel Anti-Toxoplasmic Compounds, Matthias Walters

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, is an intracellular apicomplexan parasite. Toxoplasmosis is often asymptomatic, though, it can be debilitating or fatal to immunocompromised individuals and fetuses, being one of the leading causes of fetal mortality and birth defects. Toxoplasmosis is treated with a synergistic combination of drugs pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine; however, these drugs are only effective against the acute stage of infection, and the pyrimethamine is relatively cytotoxic, damaging bone marrow and causing noxious side effects. Due to these limitations, a safer alternative that targets the chronic stage of infection is needed. In this study, we tested …