Curtis Patton Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health » Microbiology » Our research centers around the developmental biology of trypanosomes and malarial parasites. There are three areas of focus. The first is a study of calmodulin and its role as a regulatory protein in the biology of trypanosomes. The goals of this research are to isolate calmodulin/Ca2+ response elements and characterize their genes and expression during parasite differentiation. A related but different area of research concerns the role methylation in trypanosome differentiation. The goals of this study are to determine the mechanism(s) by which methylating agents induce cytotoxicity and differentiation in trypanosomes and use these agent to probe events in methylation-dependent developmental changes in these organisms. The third area of research concerns the role of HI and high mobility group (HMG) nuclear proteins in the biology of trypanosomes. The goals of this study include isolation and characterization of trypanosome histone HI HMG's and their genes. Such studies provide new insights about the cell and the molecular biology of trypanosomes and malarial parasites useful in specific diagnosis and rational targeting of anti parasitic drugs. Ridgley, E., Webster, P., Patton, C., and Ruben, L. (2000). Calmodulin-binding properties of the paraflagellar rod complex from Trypanosoma brucei. Molec. & Biochem. Parasitol. 109:195-201. Edwards, A.J., et al. (1996). Synthesis and analysis of the enantiomers of calmidazolium, and a 1H NMR demonstration of a chiral interaction with calmodulin. Chirality 8:545-50. El Sayed, N.M.A., Harkens, P.C., Fox, R.O., Anderson, K., and Patton, C.L. (1995). Crystallization and preliminary X-ray investigation and recombinant Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense calmodulin. Prot. Struct. Funct. Genetics 21:354-357.