Carlos A. Brito-Sierra

Carlos A. Brito-Sierra Profile Picture
Training Group:

Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Mentor / Lab:

Richard J. Kuhn

Specific Research Area / Project:

Flavivirus maturation in mosquitoes

Undergraduate Institution:

Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota DC

Lab / Personal work-related websites:
Kuhn Lab

Research Profile:

Mosquito-borne diseases (MBD) such as Dengue, Yellow Fever, Zika or West Nile are a major concern globally. These diseases are caused by the infection of viruses from the genus Flavivirus, typically transmitted by Aedes aegypti (the yellow fever mosquito) or Aedes albopictus (the asian tiger mosquito). These two species of mosquitoes are widely spread around the world, putting at risk around two thirds of global population. Controlling MBD at the level of the insect vector has shown remarkable outcomes by using insecticides. However, mosquitoes may have important roles in the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies to control disease at the insect level without killing them. To do that, we need to address basic biological questions such as the life cycle of the virus, which involves replication, assembly and maturation. The maturation process is critical for the production of infectious viral particles, and it occurs upon cleavage of prM (one of the structural proteins that make the virus particle) in a pH-dependent manner. There is not clear understanding of how viruses mature in mosquitoes. Identifying such process would be beneficial to develop strategies to prevent progress of infection in the mosquito, and then stop disease transmission.

In addition, another project that I am working on is related to the newly pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This project pursues the same line of research around the furin processing of viral glycoproteins. The spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 has a furin-cleavage site that is not present in the closely related SARS-CoV or the bat coronavirus RatG13. This cleavage site might have implications for tropism and/or efficiency of transmission. We are investigating those questions from different approaches and trying to come up with a target for treatment during acute COVID-19 disease.

Why PULSe:

When I got my acceptance letter to the PULSE program in late February 2016 I was in my home country, Colombia. It is important to mention that by that time South America was facing the peak of the Zika outbreak. Zika was the hot topic everywhere. Then, later in April, Dr. Richard Kuhn's lab published a paper where they resolved the first structure of the Zika virus (Sirohi et al., 2016). Richard was in the news everywhere, and I was like "Now that I am going to Purdue, I want to be in his lab". The dream came true and now I am exactly where I wanted to be.

I officially joined the PULSe program in August 2016. It has been four successful years full of wonderful experiences. I enjoy going to the Corec, trying the different restaurants of the Greater Lafayette Area and interacting with the world-class environment that Purdue offers in terms of science and culture.

In the future, I want to become a faculty and continue my research in different areas of virology. One day I want to use my PhD degree as a way to do research that can help move the world forward in terms of public health. The areas that I would like to pursue as a faculty would be projects around HIV, flaviviruses, influenza and coronavirus.

Awards:

  • • Scholarship at the World Science Conference, Israel, 2015.
  • • Scholarship Undergraduate Research Experience Purdue-Colombia, UREP-C, 2015
  • • Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars' Lynn Fellowship, Purdue University, 2016
  • • American Society for Virology Student Travel Award (meeting canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic)

Publications:

  • Brito-Sierra, C. A., Kaur, J., Hill, C. A. Protocols for Testing the Toxicity of Novel Insecticidal Chemistries to Mosquitoes. J. Vis. Exp. (144), e57768, doi:10.3791/57768 (2019)
  • Matthews BJ*, O Dudchenko*, S Kingan*, S Koren, I Antoshechkin, JE Crawford, WJ Glassford, M Herre, SN Redmond, NH Rose, GD Weedall, Y Wu, SS Batra, CA Brito-Sierra, SD Buckingham, CL Campbell, S Chan, E Cox, BR Evans, T Fansiri, I Filipovic, A Fontaine, A Gloria-Soria, R Hall, VS Joardar, AK Jones, RGG Kay, V Kodali, J Lee, GJ Lycett, SN Mitchell, J Muehling, MR Murphy, A Omer, FA Partridge, P Peluso, AP Aiden, V Ramasamy, G Rasic, S Roy, K Saavedra-Rodriguez, S Sharan, A Sharma, ML Smith, J Turner, AM Weakley, Z Zhao, OS Akbari, WC Black IV, H Cao, AC Darby, C Hill, JS Johnston, TD Murphy, AS Raikhel, DB Sattelle, IV Sharakhov, BJ White, L Zhao, EL Aiden, RS Mann, L Lambrechts, JR Powell, MV Sharakhova, Z Tu, HM Robertson, CS McBride, AR Hastie, J Korlach, DE Neafsey, AM Phillippy, LB Vosshall. 2018. Improved Aedes aegypti mosquito reference genome assembly enables biological discovery and vector control. Nature 563, 501–507 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0692-z
  • J. P. VanZee, J. A Schlueter, S. Schlueter, P. Dixon, Carlos A. Brito-Sierra and C. A. Hill. Paralog analyses reveal gene duplication events and genes under positive selection in Ixodes scapularis and other ixodid ticks. BMC Genomics 17, 241 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-2350-2
  • Carlos A. Brito-Sierra & Hugo Lopez-Arévalo Registro de mamíferos en las pinturas rupestres de Cerro Azul, Guaviare, Colombia. Book Chapter: Saberes Etnozoológicos Latinoamericanos. UEFS. 2015 175pp

Presentations:

  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. & Lopez A, H. F. (2014, December) Registro de Mamíferos en las Pinturas Rupestres de Cerro Azul, Guaviare, Colombia. Oral presentation at the IV Colombian Congress of Zoology, Cartagena, Colombia.
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. Moreno G, A. Gonzalez, A.D. Calderon E, M. & Matta C, N.E. (2014, December) Survey of Hematozoa in San José del Guaviare Herpetofauna. Poster presented at the IV Colombian Congress of Zoology, Cartagena, Colombia.
  • • Castro A, M. Karol, D. Brito-Sierra, C.A. Perovic, V. Bankova, D. Singht, A. Vassou, S. Sehr-Bassolé, S. & Prada, A. (2015, August) New Technical Applications of the Lotus Effect. Oral presentation at the World Science Conference, Jerusalem, Israel.
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. & Hill, C.A. (2015, November) Developing Resistance Breaking Insecticides for Mosquito Control: Molecular Characterization of Aedesand Anopheles GPCRs. Poster presented at the Progreso CPI symposium,Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. & Hill, C.A. (2015, December) Developing Resistance Breaking Insecticides for Mosquito Control: Molecular Characterization of Aedesand Anopheles GPCRs. Oral presentation at the UREP-C symposium, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA..
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. Alley, M. Kaur, J. Watts, VJ & Hill, C.A. (2017, April) Breaking Insecticide Resistance in Mosquito Vectors: Molecular Characterization of G-Protein Coupled Receptors ForInsecticide Development. Poster presented at the PULSe Spring Symposium, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
  • • Brito-Sierra, CA. Sirohi, D. Hill, C.A. & Kuhn, R.J. (2018, May) Transcriptome Analysis of Proprotein Convertases in Aedessp. Mosquitoes. Poster presented at the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Biomolecular Galaxy Symposium, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. Sirohi, D. & Kuhn, R.J. (2019, February) Mosquito Furin-like proteases: implications during Flavivirus maturation. Poster presented at the Health and Disease Poster Session, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. Sirohi, D. & Kuhn, R.J. (2019, April) Mosquito Furin-like proteases: implications during Flavivirus maturation. Poster presented at “A leap from lab”, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
  • • Brito-Sierra, C.A. Sirohi, D. & Kuhn, R.J. (2019, July) Mosquito Furin-like proteases: implications during Flavivirus maturation. Oral presentation at the American Society of Virology 2020. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Leadership:

  • Professional Development Co-Chair, 2018-2019
  • Science Night volunteer
  • Spring Fest Science in Schools volunteer
  • Hispanic Catholics Group at St. Thomas - member
  • Teaching
  • BIOL 11000 Fundamentals of Biology. Grader. Fall 2018
  • BIOL 41600 Viruses and Viral Disease. Instructor. Spring 2019
  • BIOL 11000 Fundamentals of Biology. Instructor. Fall 2019
  • Workshops
  • Organizer of panel “Defining my Career Pathway”. Fall 2019
  • Organizing committee member of ‘A leap from lab’. Spring 2019
  • Organizing committee member of ‘A leap from lab’. Spring 2020 – Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic

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