Team:UFMG Brazil/Chassis

Project

Overview

Problem and
Solution

Chassis

Devices and
kill switch

Lab Work

Safety

Notebook

Protocols

Results

Modeling

Practices

Overview

Integrated Human
Practices

Public
Engagement

Synenergene

Overview

Application
Scenarios

Techno-moral

Team

Our Team

Attributions

Collaborations

Sponsors

Leishmania: A Brand New Chassis

One of the interesting aspects of our project is the use of a new chassis: Leishmania! Leishmania is a genus of protozoans with about 40 species described, exclusively parasitic, that belongs to the Tripanossomatidae family. This group also comprises the genus Trypanosoma, responsible for diseases such as African trypanosomiasis (Sleeping Sickness, caused by Trypanosoma brucei) and South American trypanosomiasis (Chagas Disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi).
Leishmania is an intracellular parasite and presents two different life forms, in a heteroxenic life cycle (cycle is complete only when it has two hosts). Sandflies (belonging either to the genus Phlebotomus, in the Old World, or Lutzomyia, in the New World) are the invertebrate host of Leishmania. Inside the insect, the parasite is in an extracellular flagellated form, called promastigote. In mammalian hosts, Leishmania is in the amastigote form and infect macrophages.