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 School of Veterinary Medicine
 
Department of Pathobiological Sciences

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Faculty

.

Kevin R. Macaluso
Assistant Professor

Laboratory:
Vector-borne Diseases
 

Phone: 225-578-9677
Fax:
225-578-9701
Kmacaluso@vetmed.lsu.edu

Education:
B.S. Colorado State University • M.S. Sul Ross State University • Ph.D. Oklahoma State University

NIH-supported postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine

Research Interests
Dr. Macaluso’s research focuses on tick- and flea-borne rickettsial diseases and how the interactions between arthropods and rickettsiae facilitate pathogen transmission. Experimental procedures in his laboratory include assays to determine the transcriptional and translational regulation of arthropod host molecules during rickettsial infection. Specifically, the roles that individual molecules play in cell attachment, entry, and cell-to-cell spread are investigated. Additional interests include the ecology of rickettsial diseases including analysis of vector competence.

Selected Publications

Sunyakumthorn P, A Bourchookarn, W Pornwiroon, C David, SA Barker, and KR Macaluso. Characterization and growth of polymorphic Rickettsia felis in a tick cell line. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008; In Press.

KR Macaluso, Pornwiroon W, VL Popov, Foil LD. Identification of Rickettsia felis in the salivary glands of cat fleas. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2008; In Press.

AS Zanetti, Pornwiroon W, Kearney MT, KR Macaluso. Characterization of rickettsial infection in Amblyomma americanum (Acari:Ixodidae) by quantitative real-time PCR. J Med Entomol  2008; 45:267-275.

Pornwiroon W, Husseneder C, Kearney MT, Foil LD, KR Macaluso. Comparative microbiota of Rickettsia felis-uninfected and -infected colonized cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. ISME J 2007: 1:394-402.

Macaluso KR, A Mulenga, JA Simser, and AF Azad. Characterization of Dermacentor variabilis molecules associated with rickettsial infection. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2006; 1078: 384-388.

Pornwiroon W, SS Pourciau, LD Foil, and KR Macaluso. Rickettsia felis from cat fleas: Isolation and culture in a tick-derived cell line. App Environ Microbiol. 2006; 72:5589-5595.

Henry K, J Jiang, PJ Rozmajzl, AF Azad, KR Macaluso, AL Richards. Development of quantitative real-time PCR assays to detect Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis, the causative agents of murine typhus and flea-borne spotted fever. Molec & Cell Probes. 2007:21:17-23.

Macaluso KR
, A Mulenga, JA Simser, and AF Azad. Differential expression of genes in uninfected and Rickettsia-infected Dermacentor variabilis as assessed by differential display PCR. Infect Immun. 2003; 71:6165-6170.

Rutherford JS, KR Macaluso*, N Smith, SR Zaki, CD Paddock, JM Davis, N Peterson, AF Azad, and R Rosenberg. A case of fatal spotted fever rickettsiosis in Kenya. Emerg Infect Dis 2004; 10:910-913.

Macaluso KR, J Davis, U Alma, A Korman, J Rutherford, R Rosenberg, and AF Azad. Spotted fever group rickettsiae in ticks from the Masai Mara region of Kenya. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2003; 68:551-553.

Macaluso KR, A Mulenga, JA Simser, and AF Azad. Interactions between rickettsiae and Dermacentor variabilis ticks: analysis of gene expression. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2003; 990:568-572.

Macaluso KR, DE Sonenshine, SM Ceraul, and AF Azad. Infection and transovarial transmission of rickettsiae in Dermacentor variabilis acquired by artificial feeding. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2001; 1:45-53.

Macaluso KR, DE Sonenshine, SM Ceraul, and AF Azad. Rickettsial infection in Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae) inhibits transovarial transmission of a second Rickettsia. J Med Entomol 2002; 39:809-813.

Macaluso KR and SK Wikel. Dermacentor andersoni: effects of repeated infestations on lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine production, and adhesion-molecule expression by BALB/c mice. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 2001; 95:413-427. 

 




Department of Pathobiological Sciences
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
Skip Bertman Drive • Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Telephone: 225-578-9684 • Fax: 225-578-9701 • E-mail: svmweb@vetmed.lsu.edu

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