Castillo Lab description coming soon..
Principal Investigator
Dr. Maria G. Castillo
Graduate Students
Deblina Misra
Research Assistant | Linkedin
I am a 4th year Ph.D. student, and my research project is with Molluscan model Biomphalaria glabrata which is the secondary host of disease Schistosomiasis, the second devastating parasitic disease after malaria according to CDC. I am interested to know about the host parasitic interactions in respect to immunology. I am also interested to know about the phospho-proteomics in snails and associated immune signaling pathways in two strains of snail- resistant (BS90) and susceptible strain (BB02) to the parasite.
Jorge C. Galarza Prieto
Research Assistant | RISE5 Scholar | Linkedin | Website
My name is Jorge C. Galarza Prieto, and I’m a third year Ph. D. student in the Department of Biology at New Mexico State University. I received my B.S. in Human Nutrition and Dietetic Sciences in 2015, my M.S. in Food Science Technology and Engineering in 2019, and now pursuing my Ph. D. in Biology. My areas of interest / experience include microbiome analysis, bioinformatics, data science, data analysis, statistics, food science technology and engineering, and human nutrition and dietetics. The concentration of my doctoral dissertation is analyzing the 16S rRNA gene from extracted microbial DNA, while using the gut of the Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp as my model. I am also working with algae in shrimp as well as the CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing tool.
Tathagata Debnath
Research Assistant | Linkedin
I am Tathagata Debnath, working as a Bioinformatician in Dr. Castillo’s Lab. Currently, I am pursuing a Ph. D. from the Computer Science Department here at NMSU under the supervision of Dr. Joe Song with a focus on Bioinformatics. I have completed my B.Tech in Computer Science from NIT Agartala, India, and M.Tech in Computer Science from TU, India. In Dr. Castillo’s Lab, I am working on sequence analysis, reference genome creation, and differential expression analysis on transcriptomic and proteomic data. My research interests include alternative splicing analysis, differential expression detection, clustering and the number of cluster detection from unlabeled data, modification/ creation of new statistical methods for application on biological data etc.
Undergraduate Students
Taylor Tuono
Undergraduate Lab Assistant
I am an undergraduate senior attending NMSU and I am double majoring in microbiology and biology, also minoring in chemistry and molecular biology. After graduating from NMSU, I aspire to attend medical school and become a Medical Doctor. My duties in the lab mainly involve conducting in vivo experiments with the Physella acuta snail species and conducting research. Some of my extracurricular interests include exercising, organizing, and playing video games.
Publications
- Marquez J, Dinguirard N, Gonzalez A, Kane AE, Joffe NR, Yoshino TP, Castillo MG. Molecular characterization of thioester-containing proteins in Biomphalaria glabrata and their differential gene expression upon Schistosoma mansoni exposure. Front Immunol. 2022 Jul 27;13:903158. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.903158. PMID: 35967434; PMCID: PMC9363628.
- Castillo MG, Humphries JE, Mourão MM, Marquez J, Gonzalez A, Montelongo CE. Biomphalaria glabrata immunity: Post-genome advances. Dev Comp Immunol. 2020 Mar;104:103557. doi: 10.1016/j.dci.2019.103557. PMID: 31759924.
- Wheeler NJ, Dinguirard N, Marquez J, Gonzalez A, Zamanian M, Yoshino TP, Castillo MG. Sequence and structural variation in the genome of the Biomphalaria glabrata embryonic (Bge) cell line. Parasit Vectors. 2018 Sep 4;11(1):496. doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-3059-2. PMID: 30180879.
- Adema CM, Hillier LW, Jones CS, Loker ES, Knight M, Minx P, Oliveira G, Raghavan N, Shedlock A, do Amaral LR, Arican-Goktas HD, Assis JG, Baba EH, Baron OL, Bayne CJ, Bickham-Wright U, Biggar KK, Blouin M, Bonning BC, Botka C, Bridger JM, Buckley KM, Buddenborg SK, Lima Caldeira R, Carleton J, Carvalho OS, Castillo MG, Chalmers IW, Christensens M, Clifton S, Cosseau C, Coustau C, Cripps RM, Cuesta-Astroz Y, Cummins SF, di Stephano L, Dinguirard N, Duval D, Emrich S, Feschotte C, Feyereisen R, FitzGerald P, Fronick C, Fulton L, Galinier R, Gava SG, Geusz M, Geyer KK, Giraldo-Calderón GI, de Souza Gomes M, Gordy MA, Gourbal B, Grunau C, Hanington PC, Hoffmann KF, Hughes D, Humphries J, Jackson DJ, Jannotti-Passos LK, de Jesus Jeremias W, Jobling S, Kamel B, Kapusta A, Kaur S, Koene JM, Kohn AB, Lawson D, Lawton SP, Liang D, Limpanont Y, Liu S, Lockyer AE, Lovato TL, Ludolf F, Magrini V, McManus DP, Medina M, Misra M, Mitta G, Mkoji GM, Montague MJ, Montelongo C, Moroz LL, Munoz-Torres MC, Niazi U, Noble LR, Oliveira FS, Pais FS, Papenfuss AT, Peace R, Pena JJ, Pila EA, Quelais T, Raney BJ, Rast JP, Rollinson D, Rosse IC, Rotgans B, Routledge EJ, Ryan KM, Scholte LLS, Storey KB, Swain M, Tennessen JA, Tomlinson C, Trujillo DL, Volpi EV, Walker AJ, Wang T, Wannaporn I, Warren WC, Wu XJ, Yoshino TP, Yusuf M, Zhang SM, Zhao M, Wilson RK. Whole genome analysis of a schistosomiasis-transmitting freshwater snail. Nature Communications. 2017; May 16;8:15451. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15451.
- Yazzie N, Salazar KA, and Castillo MG. Identification, molecular characterization, and gene expression analysis of a CD109 molecule in the Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes. Fish and Shellfish Immunology, 2015; 44(1): 342-355.
- Salazar KA, Joffe NR, Houde P, Dinguirard N, and Castillo MG. Transcriptome analysis of the white body of the squid Euprymna tasmanica with emphasis on immune and hematopoietic gene discovery. PLOS One, 2015; 10(3):e0119949.
- McFall-Ngai MJ, Nyholm SV, and Castillo MG. The role of the immune system in the initiation and persistence of the Euprymna scolopes-Vibrio fischeri symbiosis. Seminars in Immunology, 2010; 22:48-53.
- Castillo MG, Wu XJ, Dinguirard N, Nyame AK, Cummings RD, and Yoshino TP. Surface membrane proteins of Biomphalaria glabrata embryonic cells bind fucosyl determinants on the tegumental surface of Schistosoma mansoni primary sporocysts. Journal of Parasitology, 2007; 93:832-40.
- Castillo MG and Yoshino TP. Carbohydrate inhibition of Biomphalaria glabrata embryonic (Bge) cell adhesion to primary sporocysts of Schistosoma mansoni. Parasitology, 2003; 125:513-525.
- Yoshino TP, Coustau C, Modat S, and Castillo MG. The Biomphalaria glabrata embryonic (Bge) molluscan cell line: Establishment of an in vitro cellular model for the study of snail host-parasite interactions. Malacologia, 1999; 41(2):331-343.
- Yoshino TP, Davids BJ, Castillo MG, and Johnston LA. Invertebrate cellular adhesion receptors: their structure and function as primordial recognition molecules in the immune system. Trends in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 1998; 5:49-65.