African trypanosome in the bloodstream.
Tsetse fly taking a bloodmeal.
Once in the bloodstream, these highly motile, unicellular parasites burrow through the blood vessel endothelium and eventually invade the central nervous system, where they initiate a cascade of events that ultimately results in fatal sleeping sickness. These parasites are the source of morbidity and mortality in several million people worldwide and current treatment regimens are antiquated, costly and ineffective. As early diverging eukaryotes, trypanosomes have historically been a rich source for the discovery of novel biological phenomena that are subsequently found to occur in other eukaryotic organisms. Identification and characterization of other components of the trypanosome's motility apparatus. Characterization of trypanin-related proteins that are present in other organisms.