Dr. Sophia Hernandez

Biography

Sophia Hernandez's PhD work focuses on characterizing exported proteins using a single gene approach and developing tools to study essential exported proteins at scale in Plasmodium berghei blood stage. Her interest in malaria, a mosquito-borne disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, stems from the global lack of effective vaccines and challenges posed by drug resistance and insufficient transmission control strategies, which prevent the complete eradication of malaria. Understanding the basic aspects of the parasite's biology furthers the development of new treatments and control strategies. Half of the Plasmodium genome is predicted to contain essential genes vital for parasite survival, which are suitable for the development of treatments and vaccines. However, uncovering the functions of these essential genes is difficult due to the low genetic tractability of the parasite. Currently, she is working on developing a scalable CRISPR-based system to conditionally knockout essential genes in Plasmodium, using P. berghei as a model organism. Critical disease progression in malaria occurs during the asexual blood stage, where the parasite invades host red blood cells (RBCs) and traffics proteins—collectively termed the exportome—that significantly alter host RBCs to ensure survival.

Research Interests

Experience