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Serap Aksoy, PhD

Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Contact Info

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

PO Box 208034, 60 College Street

New Haven, CT 06520-8034

United States

About

Titles

Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Biography

Professor Aksoy is a tropical medicine researcher whose work focuses on the epidemiology of insect transmitted (vector borne) and zoonotic diseases. Her research has been on tsetse flies and the pathogenic parasites they transmit that cause highly neglected and fatal diseases of humans in Africa, known as Sleeping Sickness. Her laboratory focuses on deciphering the vector-parasite molecular dialogue and parasite development during the transmission process with the ultimate goal of identifying novel targets of interference and developing transmission blocking vaccines to reduce disease. Her fundamental and interdisciplinary work on tsetse and its microbial symbionts has identified key principles that shape host-microbe interactions. Her studies with tsetse's mutualistic microbes identified nutritional contributions that facilitate female fecundity and mediate host immune system development. Her studies with tsetse's commensal microbiota led to a novel biological method, coined as paratransgenesis, in which anti-parasitic molecules are synthesized in the beneficial gut microbes, thus making the gut environment inhospitable for disease causing parasites. Ability to spread such modified microbes into natural insect populations is being explored to reduce disease transmission as a novel biological method.

Dr. Aksoy maintains collaborative research activities with Yale researchers as well as with multiple universities and research institutes in Africa. Their studies in Kenya and Uganda investigate the epidemiology of Sleeping Sickness disease, with a focus on understanding the major drivers that sustain disease transmission, as well as on population genetics of flies and parasites and their microbiota. She initiated and led a large international consortium that eventually sequenced the genome of six tsetse fly species. This effort vastly expanded molecular knowledge and genomic resources on this neglected disease vector, and collectively expanded research capacity in bioinformatics and functional biology in many laboratories in sub-Sahara Africa. As the co-editor in Chief of the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases between 2007-2020, she has been a major voice for building research and publication capacity for global neglected tropical diseases. Throughout her professional career, Aksoy has been an advocate of and innovator in Global Health; served as a dedicated mentor to students and scientists in the US and in Africa, China, Italy and Turkey helping to prepare the next generation of leaders in the fields of epidemiology and zoonotic disease control.

Appointments

Education & Training

PhD
Columbia University (1982)
BS
Vassar College, Biology Department (1978)

Research

Overview

Dr. Aksoy's research aims to understand the biology of host-pathogen interactions; in particular in tsetse flies, which transmit African trypanosomes and harbor multiple symbiotic microbes. Basic studies focus on the immune aspects of trypanosome transmission in tsetse, while the applied studies aim to harness this information to develop biologically sound and novel disease control strategies to interrupt parasite development in the tsetse vector. A second area of research focuses on the molecular and evolutionary basis of symbiosis. The biology of each tsetse symbiont is characterized using biochemical, genomic, genetic, cellular and molecular techniques to understand their functional significance in the context of host ecology.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Global Health; One Health; Trypanosomiasis, African; Tsetse Flies

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Serap Aksoy's published research.

Publications

2023

2022

2021

2020

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • honor

    Elected Member to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

  • honor

    Award of Excellence for Research Towards Control

  • honor

    Elected Member

  • activity

    Evidence Based Control Strategies of Sleeping Sickness Vectors

  • honor

    Research, Innovation and Leadership Award

Get In Touch

Contacts

Lab Number
Mailing Address

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

PO Box 208034, 60 College Street

New Haven, CT 06520-8034

United States

Locations