Tiago Castilho - University of New Haven

Department of Biology and Environmental Science
College of Arts and Sciences

Contact

TCastilho@newhaven.edu
(203) 479-4766
Dodds Hall, Room 319

For the Media

Education

Ph.D. in Parasitology (Biology of Pathogen-Host Relationship)
Department of Parasitology at Institute of Biomedical Sciences
University of São Paulo, Brazil

B.S. in Molecular Sciences
Course of Molecular Sciences
University of São Paulo, Brazil

About Tiago

I am a Molecular Scientist and Doctor of Sciences in Biology of Pathogen-Host Interaction with experience and passion for research and teaching in higher education.

Brief Summary of Research Background

During my Ph.D. work at the University of São Paulo in Lucile Floeter-Winter's lab, we developed a PCR based test to detect and identify organisms of the Leishmania (Viannia) subgenus, which we later adapted to a qPCR test. We have used the test successfully in samples from sylvatic hosts and human patients. The assay was very well accepted and has been used in other laboratories in Brazil and other countries, being one of the 4 molecular tests mentioned in the "Manual for Surveillance of American Integumentary Leishmaniasis" (2007) a publication of the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

While working at Yale University in Diane McMahon-Pratt's lab, we developed a murine model of L.(V.)panamensis infection that uses a relatively low number of parasites to establish the infection with chronic disease and induces a similar immune response to the one observed in patients naturally infected with this pathogen. This model has successfully delineated the key role of IL-13 in mammalian host susceptibility to L.(V.)panamensis infection. Further, this model has been used in vaccine studies and in chemo- and immunotherapy research.

We also evaluated the human macrophage response to L. (Viannia) panamensis promastigotes infection by microarray, obtaining evidence for an early inflammatory response in the infection which was not observed in infections with L.(Leishmania) chagasi. As the initial immune response can be crucial to modulate the immune response at the site of the infection these findings illustrate the dynamics of the interactions between the mammalian host and different Leishmania species generating distinct biologic responses from the outset of infection.

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Research Experience

Yale School of Public Health (formerly Department of Public Health of the Yale School of Medicine), 2006-2013
Yale University

Institute of Biomedical Sciences, 1998-2005
University of São Paulo

Publications

Search at pubmed: Moreno Castilho t or Castilho TM NOT Castilho TML

Selected Publications

Ramírez C*, Díaz Y*, Tellez J*, Castilho TM*, Rojas R, Ettinger NA, Tikhonova I, Alexander NA, Hager J, Wilson ME, Lin A, Zhao H, Saravia NG, McMahon-Pratt D (2012). Human Macrophage Response to L.(Viannia) panamensis Infection: Microarray Evidence for an Early Inflammatory Response. PloS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 6, e1866. PMID 23145196. *authors contributed equally.
Castilho TM, Goldsmith-Pestana K, Lozano C, Valderrama L, Saravia NG, McMahon-Pratt D. (2010) Murine model of chronic L. (Viannia) panamensis infection: role of IL-13 in disease. European Journal of Immunology, 40, 2816-29. PMID 20827674.
Castilho TM, Camargo LMA, McMahon-Pratt D, Shaw JJ, Floeter-Winter LM. (2008). A real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for the identification and quantification of American Leishmania species on the basis of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 78(1), 122-132. PMID 18187795.
Castilho TM, Shaw JJ, Floeter-Winter LM. (2003). New PCR Assay Using Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase for Identification of Leishmania Species. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 41(2), 540-546. PMID 12574243.