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Christian Tschudi, PhD

John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Director of Graduate Studies

About

Titles

John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Director of Graduate Studies

Biography

Christian Tschudi is the John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and earned an A.B. in microbiology and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Basel in Switzerland. He currently co-directs an NIH-sponsored Global Infectious Disease Training Program (D43) in translational research training on leishmaniasis & emerging infectious diseases and is the co-director of the China Scholarship Council-Yale World Scholars Program in Public Health. Dr. Tschudi is an expert on neglected tropical diseases, as evidenced by editorial board and study section appointments and a Burroughs Wellcome Award. He is currently the organizer of the international conference on kinetoplastid molecular cell biology. Dr. Tschudi’s studies focus on the biology of trypanosomes the causative agents of devastating diseases in Africa and South America with special emphasis on one of the fundamental steps in the life of a pathogen, namely the acquisition of infectivity.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

PhD
University of Basel (1982)

Research

Overview

Professor Tschudi’s studies focus on the biology of trypanosomes the causative agents of devastating diseases in Africa and South America. Most projects in the laboratory utilize bioinformatics and modern genetic techniques to identify and dissect parasite-specific functions. The laboratory has developed several methodologies for creating mutants and has been instrumental in establishing a number of techniques to study processes at the biochemical level. These approaches will lead to a better understanding of the infectious cycle of the parasite, which involves a mammalian as well as an insect host. The long term goal is to identify candidate molecules that can be targets for chemotherapy.

Most recently, we have established and used RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq), a novel high-throughput sequencing technology, to interrogate the transcriptome of the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei, the agent of African sleeping sickness in man and nagana in cattle.

In the course of this work, we have optimized the RNA-Seq protocol for use with trypanosomatids, built our own server, implemented a stream-lined bioinformatics pipeline and generated one of the most comprehensive genome-wide transcript maps at single-nucleotide resolution. Such information is central to the identification of functional elements, to determine the timing and regulation of gene expression in different developmental stages and to identify novel drug targets. Indeed, this work has dramatically expanded the repertoire of known genes to include over 1,000 novel genes with many displaying features suggesting that they are secreted or modulate the characteristics of membranes and thus play a role in the response of T. brucei to the changing environment during its complex life cycle. We expanded the transcriptome studies to developmental stages of T. brucei in the tsetse fly vector (in collaboration with Dr. Aksoy) and to the life cycle of Leishmania (Viannia) panamensis (in collaboration with Dr. McMahon-Pratt).

  • Profiling the transcriptome of the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei, the agent of African sleeping sickness in man and nagana in cattle, by next-generation high-throughput sequencing.
  • Characterization of molecular mechanisms Involved in RNA metabolism with special emphasis on RNA interference and the role of small RNAs in trypanosome biology.
  • Developmental biology of African trypanosomes in its Invertebrate Host, a collaborative effort with Professor Serap Aksoy in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
  • Characterization of enzymes involved in RNA modification, a collaboration with Professor Shulamit Michaeli at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel

Medical Research Interests

Genomics; Parasitic Diseases; RNA Interference; Tropical Medicine; Trypanosomiasis, African

Public Health Interests

Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics; Infectious Diseases; Parasitology

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Christian Tschudi's published research.

Publications

2023

2018

2017

2016

2012

2011

2010

2009

2001

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    mBIO

  • activity

    The FASEB Journal

  • activity

    PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

  • activity

    Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology

  • activity

    International Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology Meeting

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number
Lab Number
Office Fax Number
Mailing Address

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

295 Congress Avenue

New Haven, CT 06536-0812

United States

Locations

  • Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine

    Lab

    295 Congress Avenue, Ste BCMM 137

    New Haven, CT 06510

  • Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine

    Academic Office

    295 Congress Avenue, Ste BCMM 136C

    New Haven, CT 06510