Lourido Lab

Diego Huet is a postdoctoral fellow in Sebastian Lourido’s lab at Whitehead Institute. His research is focused on the unique biology of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. We sat down with Huet to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Boryana Petrova is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido’s lab researching parasite metabolism. She has also worked in Whitehead Institute Member Terry Orr-Weaver’s lab. We sat down with her to learn a bit more about her and her experiences in the lab.

In the apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) Whitehead Member Sebastian Lourido studies, he has identified key components of the ATP synthase which differ from that of humans. These differences underscore the unique biology of T. gondii and highlight the dissimilarities between them and their human hosts.    

The budget proposed on March 15, 2017 would cut National Institutes of Health funding by an estimated 20 percent.

An emerging leader in investigations on deadly parasitic infections, Lourido’s appointment will further enhance one of the world’s most accomplished biomedical research institutes

MIT and Whitehead Institute scientists have developed a new type of easily customizable vaccine that can be manufactured in one week, allowing it to be rapidly deployed in response to disease outbreaks. So far, they have designed vaccines against Ebola, H1N1 influenza, and Toxoplasma gondii (a relative of the parasite that causes malaria), which were 100 percent effective in tests in mice.