Publications

Our dedicated research team is passionate about understanding the intricate biology, pathogenesis, and epidemiology of Pathogenic free-living amoebae (PFLA), with the ultimate goal of developing effective prevention strategies and therapeutic interventions. Through our interdisciplinary approach, we combine molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, epidemiology, and bioinformatics to shed light on the complexities of PFLA.

Here you will find a comprehensive listing of the scientific contributions made by our talented team members.

2023

20. Glucose metabolism in the pathogenic free-living amoebae: Tempting targets for treatment development

Jillian E Milanes, Samuel Kwain, Allyson Drawdy, Laura Dodson, Matthew T Monaghan, Christopher A Rice, Brian N Dominy, Daniel C Whitehead, James C Morris

Chem Biol Drug Des. 2023 Oct 20:e14377.

PMID: 37864277; DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/cbdd.14377

19. Identification of novel anti-amoebic pharmacophores from kinase inhibitor chemotypes

Lori Ferrins, Melissa J Buskes, Madison M Kapteyn, Hannah N Engels, Suzanne E Enos, Chenyang Lu, Dana M Klug, Baljinder Singh, Antonio Quotadamo, Kelly Bachovchin, Westley F Tear, Andrew E Spaulding, Katherine C Forbes, Seema Bag, Mitch Rivers, Catherine LeBlanc, Erin Burchfield, Jeremy R Armand, Rosario Diaz-Gonzalez, Gloria Ceballos-Perez, Raquel García-Hernández, Guiomar Pérez-Moreno, Cristina Bosch-Navarrete, Claudia Gómez Liña, Luis Miguel Ruiz-Pérez, Francisco Gamarro, Dolores González-Pacanowska, Miguel Navarro, Kojo Mensa-Wilmot, Michael P Pollastri, Dennis E Kyle, and Christopher A Rice

Front Microbiol. 2023 May 10;14:1149145.

PMID: 37234530; PMCID: PMC10206040DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1149145

18. Shotgun Kinetic Target-Guided Synthesis Approach Enables the Discovery of Small-Molecule Inhibitors against Pathogenic Free-Living Amoeba Glucokinases

Mintesinot Kassu, Prakash T Parvatkar, Jillian Milanes, Neil P Monaghan, Chungsik Kim, Matthew Dowgiallo, Yingzhao Zhao, Ami H Asakawa, Lili Huang, Alicia Wagner, Brandon Miller 1, Karissa Carter, Kayleigh F Barrett, Logan M Tillery, Lynn K Barrett, Isabelle Q Phan, Sandhya Subramanian, Peter J Myler, Wesley C Van Voorhis, James W Leahy, Christopher A Rice, Dennis E Kyle, James Morris, Roman Manetsch

ACS Infect Dis. 2023 Nov 10;9(11):2190-2201.

PMID: 37820055PMCID: 10644346; DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00284

2022

17. Characterization of Glucokinases from Pathogenic Free-Living Amoebae

Jillian E Milanes, Jimmy Suryadi, Neil P Monaghan, Elijah M Harding, Corbin S Morris, Soren D Rozema, Muhammad M Khalifa, Jennifer E Golden, Isabelle Q Phan, Rachael Zigweid, Jan Abendroth, Christopher A Rice, Hayden T McCord, Stevin Wilson, Michael K Fenwick, and James C Morris

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2022 Jun 21;66(6):e0237321.

PMID: 35604214; PMCID: PMC9211422DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.02373-21

16. Polychlorinated cyclopentenes from a marine derived Periconia sp. (strain G1144)

Kristóf B Cank, Robert A Shepherd, Sonja L Knowles, Manuel Rangel-Grimaldo, Huzefa A Raja, Zoie L Bunch, Nadja B Cech, Christopher A Rice, Dennis E Kyle, Joseph O Falkinham 3rd, Joanna E Burdette, and Nicholas H Oberlies

Phytochemistry. 2022 Jul;199:113200.

PMID: 35421431; PMCID: PMC9173697DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2022.113200

15. Acanthamoeba spp. aggregate and encyst on contact lens material increasing resistance to disinfection

Allison Campolo, Reed Pifer, Rhonda Walters, Megan Thomas, Elise Miller, Valerie Harris, Jamie King, Christopher A Rice, Paul Shannon, Brian Patterson, and Monica Crary

Front Microbiol. 2022 Dec 19;13:1089092.

PMID: 36601401; PMCID: PMC9806144DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1089092

2021

14. Naegleria fowleri: Protein structures to facilitate drug discovery for the deadly, pathogenic free-living amoeba

Logan Tillery, Kayleigh Barrett, Jenna Goldstein, Jared W. Lassner, Bram Osterhout, Nathan L. Tran, Lily Xu, Ryan M. Young, Justin Craig, Ian Chun, David M. Dranow, Jan Abendroth, Silvia L. Delker, Douglas R. Davies, Stephen J. Mayclin, Brandy Calhoun, Madison J. Bolejack, Bart Staker, Sandhya Subramanian, Isabelle Phan, Donald D. Lorimer, Peter J. Myler, Thomas E. Edwards, Dennis E. Kyle, Christopher A. Rice, James C. Morris, James W. Leahy, Roman Manetsch, Lynn K. Barrett, Craig L. Smith, Wesley C. Van Voorhis

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 24;16(3):e0241738.

13. The transcriptome of Balamuthia mandrillaris trophozoites for structure-guided drug design

Isabelle Q. Phan, Christopher A. Rice, Justin Craig, Rooksana E. Noorai, Jacquelyn R. McDonald, Sandhya Subramanian, Logan Tillery, Lynn K. Barrett, Vijay Shankar, James C. Morris, Wesley C. Van Voorhis, Dennis E. Kyle and Peter J. Myler

Sci Rep 11, 21664 (2021).

PMID: 34737367; PMCID: PMC8569187DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99903-8

2020

12. In Vitro Screening of the Open-Source Medicines for Malaria Venture Malaria and Pathogen Boxes To Discover Novel Compounds with Activity against Balamuthia mandrillaris

Christopher A Rice, Luis Fernando Lares-Jiménez, Fernando Lares-Villa, Dennis E Kyle

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020 Apr 21;64(5):e02233-19.

11. Synthesis, Cytotoxicity, and Genotoxicity of 10-Aza-9-oxakalkitoxin, an N, N, O-Trisubstituted Hydroxylamine Analog, or Hydroxalog, of a Marine Natural Product

Sandeep Dhanju, Kapil Upadhyaya, Christopher A Rice, Scott D Pegan, Joseph Media, Frederick A Valeriote, David Crich

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 20, 9147–9151.

10. Discovery of Anti-Amoebic Inhibitors from Screening the MMV Pandemic Response Box on Balamuthia mandrillaris, Naegleria fowleri, and Acanthamoeba castellanii

Christopher A Rice, Emma V Troth, A Cassiopeia Russell, Dennis E Kyle

Pathogens 2020, 9(6), 476.

9. Discovery of repurposing drug candidates for the treatment of diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae

Christopher A Rice, Beatrice L Colon, Emily Chen, Mitchell V Hull, Dennis E Kyle

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 14(9): e0008353.

2019

8. Phenotypic Screens Reveal Posaconazole as a Rapidly Acting Amebicidal Combination Partner for Treatment of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis

Beatrice L Colon, Christopher A Rice, R Kiplin Guy, Dennis E Kyle

The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 219, Issue 7, 1 April 2019, Pages 1095–1103.

7. Conservation of Ancient Genetic Pathways for Intracellular Persistence Among Animal Pathogenic Bordetellae

Israel Rivera, Bodo Linz, Kalyan K Dewan, Longhuan Ma, Christopher A Rice, Dennis E Kyle, Eric T Harvill

Front Microbiol. 2019 Dec 11;10:2839.

2018

6. Structural and functional studies of histidine biosynthesis in Acanthamoeba spp. demonstrates a novel molecular arrangement and target for antimicrobials.

Christopher A. Rice, Sara J. Campbell, Claudine Bisson, Hayley J. Owen, Svetlana E. Sedelnikova, Patrick J. Baker, David W. Rice ,Fiona L. Henriquez, Craig W. Roberts

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 3;13(7):e0198827.

5. Exploitation of Mangrove Endophytic Fungi for Infectious Disease Drug Discovery

Danielle H. Demers, Matthew A. Knestrick, Renee Fleeman, Rahmy Tawfik, Ala Azhari, Ashley Souza, Brian Vesely, Mandy Netherton, Rashmi Gupta, Beatrice L. Colon, Christopher A. Rice, Mario A. Rodríguez-Pérez, Kyle H. Rohde, Dennis E. Kyle, Lindsey N. Shaw and Bill J. Baker

Mar. Drugs 2018, 16(10), 376.

2017

4. Characterisation of sterol biosynthesis and validation of 14α-demethylase as a drug target in Acanthamoeba

Scott Thomson, Christopher A Rice, Tong Zhang, RuAngelie Edrada-Ebel, Fiona L Henriquez, Craig W Roberts

Sci Rep2017 Aug 15;7(1):8247.

3. Keikipukalides, Furanocembrane Diterpenes from the Antarctic Deep Sea Octocoral Plumarella delicatissima

Santana A L Thomas, Jacqueline L von Salm, Shane Clark, Steve Ferlita, Prasanth Nemani, Ala Azhari, Christopher A Rice, Nerida G Wilson, Dennis E Kyle, Bill J Baker

J. Nat. Prod. 2018, 81, 1, 117–123.

2016

2. Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond

Wesley C Van Voorhis, John H Adams, Roberto Adelfio, Vida Ahyong, Myles H Akabas, Pietro Alano, Aintzane Alday, Yesmalie Alemán Resto, Aishah Alsibaee, Ainhoa Alzualde, Katherine T Andrews, Simon V Avery, Vicky M Avery, Lawrence Ayong, Mark Baker, Stephen Baker, Choukri Ben Mamoun, Sangeeta Bhatia, Quentin Bickle, Lotfi Bounaadja, Tana Bowling, Jürgen Bosch, Lauren E Boucher, Fabrice F Boyom, Jose Brea, Marian Brennan, Audrey Burton, Conor R Caffrey, Grazia Camarda, Manuela Carrasquilla, Dee Carter, Maria Belen Cassera, Ken Chih-Chien Cheng, Worathad Chindaudomsate, Anthony Chubb, Beatrice L Colon, Daisy D Colón-López, Yolanda Corbett, Gregory J Crowther, Noemi Cowan, Sarah D'Alessandro, Na Le Dang, Michael Delves, Joseph L DeRisi, Alan Y Du, Sandra Duffy, Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed, Michael T Ferdig, José A Fernández Robledo, David A Fidock, Isabelle Florent, Patrick V T Fokou, Ani Galstian, Francisco Javier Gamo, Suzanne Gokool, Ben Gold, Todd Golub, Gregory M Goldgof, Rajarshi Guha, W Armand Guiguemde, Nil Gural, R Kiplin Guy, Michael A E Hansen, Kirsten K Hanson, Andrew Hemphill, Rob Hooft van Huijsduijnen, Takaaki Horii, Paul Horrocks, Tyler B Hughes, Christopher Huston, Ikuo Igarashi, Katrin Ingram-Sieber, Maurice A Itoe, Ajit Jadhav, Amornrat Naranuntarat Jensen, Laran T Jensen, Rays H Y Jiang, Annette Kaiser, Jennifer Keiser , Thomas Ketas, Sebastien Kicka, Sunyoung Kim, Kiaran Kirk, Vidya P Kumar, Dennis E Kyle, Maria Jose Lafuente, Scott Landfear, Nathan Lee, Sukjun Lee, Adele M Lehane, Fengwu Li, David Little, Liqiong Liu, Manuel Llinás, Maria I Loza, Aristea Lubar, Leonardo Lucantoni, Isabelle Lucet, Louis Maes, Dalu Mancama, Nuha R Mansour, Sandra March, Sheena McGowan, Iset Medina Vera, Stephan Meister, Luke Mercer, Jordi Mestres, Alvine N Mfopa, Raj N Misra, Seunghyun Moon, John P Moore, Francielly Morais Rodrigues da Costa, Joachim Müller, Arantza Muriana, Stephen Nakazawa Hewitt, Bakela Nare, Carl Nathan, Nathalie Narraidoo, Sujeevi Nawaratna, Kayode K Ojo, Diana Ortiz, Gordana Panic, George Papadatos, Silvia Parapini, Kailash Patra, Ngoc Pham, Sarah Prats, David M Plouffe, Sally-Ann Poulsen, Anupam Pradhan, Celia Quevedo, Ronald J Quinn, Christopher A Rice, Mohamed Abdo Rizk, Andrea Ruecker, Robert St Onge, Rafaela Salgado Ferreira, Jasmeet Samra, Natalie G Robinett, Ulrich Schlecht, Marjorie Schmitt, Filipe Silva Villela, Francesco Silvestrini, Robert Sinden, Dennis A Smith, Thierry Soldati, Andreas Spitzmüller, Serge Maximilian Stamm, David J Sullivan, William Sullivan, Sundari Suresh, Brian M Suzuki, Yo Suzuki, S Joshua Swamidass, Donatella Taramelli, Lauve R Y Tchokouaha, Anjo Theron, David Thomas, Kathryn F Tonissen, Simon Townson, Abhai K Tripathi, Valentin Trofimov, Kenneth O Udenze, Imran Ullah, Cindy Vallieres, Edgar Vigil, Joseph M Vinetz, Phat Voong Vinh, Hoan Vu, Nao-Aki Watanabe, Kate Weatherby, Pamela M White, Andrew F Wilks, Elizabeth A Winzeler, Edward Wojcik, Melanie Wree, Wesley Wu, Naoaki Yokoyama, Paul H A Zollo, Nada Abla, Benjamin Blasco, Jeremy Burrows, Benoît Laleu, Didier Leroy, Thomas Spangenberg, Timothy Wells, Paul A Willis

PLoS Pathog. 2016 Jul 28;12(7):e1005763.

2015

1. Bis-benzimidazole hits against Naegleria fowleri discovered with new high-throughput screens

Rice CA, Colon BL, Alp M, Göker H, Boykin DW, Kyle DE

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 Apr;59(4):2037-44.