Student researcher, Mark Brooks, conducts an experiment in effort to help find a cure.
As the United States battles terrorism and injustice throughout the world, one peculiar enemy has come forward and body armor can’t stop it.
Leishmaniasis (LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis) is a parasitic disease found in the world’s tropic and sub tropic areas.
The disease is caused by the parasite Leishmania which lives within the sand fly.
Inside the sand fly Leishmania is harmless, but once transferred to a mammalian hosts such as dogs, cats, and humans it becomes an uncomfortable and sometimes fatal foe.
Thankfully Winston-Salem State University assistant professor of Microbiology, Dr. Johanna Porter-Kelley, is researching the disease to help create treatment options for infected civilians and soldiers.
“Soldiers in tropical areas are at risk and that is the interest of the U.S. government” said Kelley.
Kelley received funding through a research grant from the Department of Defense and most of the interest has come from the Army.
This is not Kelley’s first time researching this infectious disease. A couple degrees and post doctorals later Kelley’s interest in parasitic diseases has the potential to save countless lives.
Kelley and her research assistant, Mark Brooks, are studying the biology of the parasite in order to develop chemotherapeutic treatments can be developed.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Leishmaniasis affects 1.5 million people each year, and its deadly strain affecting 500,000 yearly.
Along with saving lives Dr. Kelley has given Brooks, a senior biology and pre-medicine major, valuable research experience.
“Helping Dr. Kelley allows me to use what I have learned in the classroom to solve a major problem” says Brooks.
Kelley hopes that her research will help raise WSSU’s profile in the scientific community. Bringing in research dollars will also bring in more students interested in sciences.
“We are here to train students, that’s our prime objective, and in the process we have to do some research to give them some hands-on experience to be trained as a researcher. Whether the student is going to be a researcher or a medical doctor he or she will need to have some research experience,” said Kelley.
