School of Infection & Immunity

Professor Boris Striepen

Zoom link:https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/86580171140?pwd=pX2RiWRKmPvibRrv4L5IlCMqwxFU1s.1 

Passcode:337489

Title: The Biology of Parasite Sex

Synopsis:

The eukaryotic parasite Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of diarrheal disease. Malnourished children are especially susceptible to severe disease, which is an important contributor to early childhood mortality. There are neither effective drugs nor vaccines to treat or prevent this infection. Here, I would like to highlight recent experimental work to understand and exploit the biology of the sexual part of the parasite lifecycle. Specifically, I will discuss how life cycle progression and sex are controlled transcriptionally, how sex works at the cellular level of male and female gametes, and how parasite sex enables genetic crosses to discover genes critical to virulence, persistence and drug susceptibility.

Bio: 

Boris grew up in the harbor neighborhood of Ruhrort, at the confluence of the rivers Ruhr and Rhein, an industrial area of Germany, then dominated by coal and steel. He studied biology at the universities of Bonn and Marburg, and conducted undergrad research on liver flukes in Bonn, and trypanosomes in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Boris earned a PhD for work on parasite biochemistry with Ralph Schwarz, was a postdoc with David Roos, studying parasite cell biology, and started his own laboratory at the University of Georgia in 2000. In 2017 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania. Boris studies the cell and molecular biology of apicomplexan parasites. His current research focus is the parasite Cryptosporidium, a leading global cause of severe diarrhea and mortality in young children. His lab pioneered molecular genetics and mouse models for this important infection and leads a range of interdisciplinary efforts to understand fundamental parasite biology, and to advance translation towards drugs and vaccines. Boris is also engaged in education and training. He taught undergraduate and graduate classes, directed NIH training grant programs in parasitology, served as lecturer, faculty, and director of the Biology of Parasitism summer research course at the MBL for many years, and hosts the online Global Parasitology Seminar Series. Boris is married to a social worker with remarkable patience for scientists, and has three adult children, two are research scientists – all are awesome.

First published: 10 February 2026

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