Craig Weinkauf, B. A., Biology, University of California, San Diego
M.D./Ph.D. Student in Immunology
E-mail: craig.weinkauf@tufts.edu

The CDC estimates that 16 to 18 million people worldwide have Chagas disease, and although it is predominantly a disease of South America, the number of cases in the US is growing. Chagas disease is an incurable infectious disease, and its long-term sequelae include cardiomyopathy, megaesophagus and megacolon. Important in these complications is the fact that Trypanosoma cruzi , the infective agent of Chagas disease, invades myocytes, neurons and glial cells. I am working to identify parasite ligand(s) and host-cell receptor(s) that govern T. cruzi infection of nervous tissue with a focus on neurons and glial cells in the central and peripheral nervous system.