• COLC Travel Award, University of California Irvine (2017)
• Travel Award, Symposium on Phylogenomics organized by University of Texas (2014)
• Evolution Conference Travel Award, Society of Systematic Biology (2014)

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University

Postdoctoral fellows: Cheikh Cambel Dieng; Bernis Yengo

Graduate students: Kareen Pestana; Beka Abagero; Tassew Shenkutie

Undergraduate student: Canelle Kipayko

Malaria kills over 600,000 people and causes nearly 250 million cases per year. A vast majority of victims are babies and young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the many interventions in place, malaria burden remains high especially in remote and rural areas where resources are scarce and living conditions are sub-optimal. 40% of the world’s population still lives in areas where malaria is transmitted. Due to climate, ecology, and poverty, sub-Saharan Africa as been home to 80-90% of the world’s malaria cases and deaths.

In Lo lab, we study host-pathogen interactions and evolutionary genomics of malaria parasites Plasmodium in the context of epidemiology and transmission in African countries. My team combines field-based epidemiological data with lab-based molecular biology and ‘omics’ approaches to address the knowledge gap in the mechanisms of pathogen invasion and how genome evolution leads to changes in disease dynamics and control measures. My recent work has been at the forefront of the next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics revolution in the field of vivax malaria.

Molecular Epidemiology and Parasite Genomics

Malaria is many African countries remain prominent. Human movements and dispersal of vector mosquitoes allow spread of malaria and impact genetic structure of parasite populations. Empirical work toward understanding how the genetic composition of malaria parasites interacts with geographical and environmental features is vital for monitoring changes in the parasites. A combination of population genetics and landscape genetics methods to assess the spatial genetic diversity of malaria parasite allows us to examine the roles of spatial variation and putative local adaptation in shaping the hierarchical genetic structure of malaria parasites related to disease transmission. Our research findings contribute to assessing and monitoring disease prevalence in countries where a large proportion of children and adults are at high risk of malaria.

Migratory pathways of Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax in malaria endemic areas of Ethiopia.

Host-parasite Interaction and Invasion Mechanisms

People of African ancestry were thought to be protected from Plasmodium vivax because they lack Duffy antigen expression on the surface of erythrocytes. Recent studies challenge this conventional wisdom, raising the possibility that that some lineages of P. vivax may have evolved to use a Duffy-independent pathway for erythrocyte invasion. Our research examines the genetic basis of erythrocyte invasion and ligand-receptor interactions of P. vivax in Duffy negative humans using genomic approaches and function assays. Our recent data suggested that the Duffy Binding Protein is not the key parasite ligand protein for host red blood cell invasion. Higher copies of the PvDBP gene may increase expression of the protein and thereby binding affinity, but an alternative invasion pathway may exist when invading Duffy negative red cells. Our findings are paramount to the understanding of P. vivax epidemiology and distribution in Africa.

Left: Distribution of Duffy blood group among febrile patients in East and Southern Africa. Right: Evolution of P. vivax isolates with single and multiple PvDBP copies.

Malaria Surveillance and Intervention

WHO aims to achieve malaria elimination in at least 35 countries, reduce incidence and mortality rates by 90%, and prevent resurgence in malaria-free countries by 2030. A wide deployment of malaria control tools has significantly reduced malaria morbidity and mortality across Africa. However, in recent years, there has been a resurgence of malaria in several African countries, raising the questions of whether and why current control mechanisms are failing. The advances in parasite genomics have improved our understanding of mutational changes, molecular structure, and genetic mechanisms associated with diagnostic testing, antimalarial resistance, and preventive measures such as vaccine development. My lab obtains biological information by genomic and molecular approaches and translate them into tools that help resolve epidemiological challenges. This includes the identification informative biomarkers that can distinguish different isolates and pinpoint the source of infections at fine geographical scale, and sensitive tool(s) for large-scale screening of asymptomatic infections in high and low transmission areas.

Structure of Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein peptides in malaria vaccine.

Visit Lo Lab to meet our team and see more.

Website: http://www.eugenialoslab.com/

Full publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/eugenia.lo.1/bibliography/public/

Selected Publications

“Prevalence and characteristics of Plasmodium vivax gametocytes in Duffy-positive and Duffy-negative populations across Ethiopia”
Little E, Shenkutie TT, Negash MT, Abagero BA, Abebe A, Popovici J, Mehasha S, Lo EYY
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (in press) PMCID: PMC10760292 (2024)

“Comparative transcriptomics reveal differential expression in genes related to erythrocyte invasion between East African Plasmodium vivax and other geographical isolates”
Kepple D, Ford CF, Williams J, Abagero BA, Popovici J, Li S, Yewhalaw D, Lo EYY
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (in press) PMCID: PMC9949051 (2024)

“Genetic variations of Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein and the impact on interactions with human immunoproteins and malaria vaccine efficacy”
Dieng CC, Ford CT, Huynh J, Janies DA, Amoah LA, Afrane YA, Lo EYY
Infection, Genetics, and Evolution 110:105418. PMID: 36841398 (2023)

“Implementing landscape genetics in molecular epidemiology to determine drivers of vector-borne diseases: A malaria case study”
Hubbard A, Hemming-Schroeder E, Afrane Y, Yan G, Lo EYY, Janies DA
Molecular Ecology 32:1848-1859. PMCID: PMC10694861 (2023)

“Gene polymorphisms among Plasmodium vivax geographical isolates and the potential as new biomarkers for gametocyte detection”
Ford A, Kepple D, Williams J, Kolesar G, Ford CT, Abebe A, Golassa L, Janies DA, Yewhalaw D, Lo EYY
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 11:7894176. PMCID: PMC8793628 (2022)

“Contrasting epidemiology and genetic variation of Plasmodium vivax infecting Duffy negatives across Africa”
Lo EYY, Russo G, Pestana K, Kepple D, Abargero BR, Dongho GBD, Gunalan K, Miller LH, Hamid MMA, Yewhalaw D, Paganotti GM
International Journal of Infectious Diseases 108:63-71. PMID: 33992680 (2021)

“Plasmodium vivax from Duffy-negative and Duffy-positive individuals shared similar gene pool indicative of frequent transmission in East Africa”
Kepple D, Hubbard A, Musab MA, Raya B, Lopez K, Pestana K, Janies DA, Yan G, Hamid MA, Yewhalaw D, Lo EYY
Journal of Infectious Diseases. jiab063. PMID:33534886 (2021)

“Frequent expansion of Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein in Ethiopia and its epidemiological significance”
Lo EYY, Hostetler J, Yewhalaw D, Pearson R, Hamid MMA, Gunalan K, Kepple D, Ford A, Janies DA, Rayner J, Miller LH, Yan G
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13:e0007222. PMCID: PMC6756552 (2019)

“Frequent Spread of Plasmodium vivax Malaria Maintains High Genetic Diversity at the Myanmar-China Border, Without Distance and Landscape Barriers”
Lo EYY, Lam N, Hemming-Schroeder E, Nguyen J, Zhou G, Lee MC, Yang Z, Cui L, Yan G
The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 215(4). PMCID: PMC5853548 (2017)

“Role of Plasmodium vivax Duffy-binding protein 1 in invasion of Duffy-null Africans”
Gunalan K*, Lo EYY*, Hostetler J, Yewhalaw D, Mu J, Nesfsey D, Yan G, Miller LH
Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 113:6271-6. (*Co-first authors) PMCID: PMC4896682 (2016)

“Solution to emerging challenges in controlling malaria in Africa”
Invited Seminar. Population Health and Diseases Prevention, School of Public Health, University of California at Irvine, USA (2023)

“Solution to emerging challenges in controlling malaria in Africa”
Invited Seminar. Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA (2023)

“Genomic epidemiology and host invasion mechanisms of Plasmodium vivax in Africa”
Invited Seminar. Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research, School of Public Health, University of South Florida, Florida, USA (2022)

“Emergence and spread of Plasmodium vivax malaria in Africa”
Invited Seminar. Institute of Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA (2022)

“Comparative transcriptomics reveal differential expression profiles in genes related to erythrocyte invasion in East African Plasmodium vivax”
Kepple D.**, Ford C.F.**, Williams J.**, Abagero B.A.**, Tebben K., Serre D., Popovici J., Li S., Yewhalaw D., Lo, E.Y.Y.
The 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Seattle, USA (2022)

“Predicting RTS,S malaria vaccine efficacy by protein interaction analyses of Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein variants with human immunoproteins”
Dieng C.C.**, Ford C.T., Huynh J.**, Janies D.A., Amoah L.A., Afrane Y.A., Lo, E.Y.Y.
The 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Seattle, USA (2022)

“Prevalence and genetic characteristics of Plasmodium vivax gametocytes in Duffy-positive and Duffy-Negative Africans”
Little E.**, Tefera T., Popovici J., Mekasha S., Lo, E.Y.Y.
The 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Seattle, USA (2022)

“Would Plasmodium vivax malaria become an epidemic in Africa?”
Invited Seminar. School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (2021)

“A breakthrough in Plasmodium vivax in invading human erythrocytes: how they spread in Africa? Annual Meeting of Systematics, Biogeography and Evolution”
Invited Seminar. Emerging Disease Symposium (June 19-23, 2021)

“Evolution and epidemiological risk of an emerging malaria pathogen Plasmodium vivax across Africa”
Invited Seminar. Department of Biology, Baylor University, Texas, USA (2021)