个人简介
Upon completion of my PhD thesis, I spent four years as a post-doctoral researcher (Mottram/Coombs group) at the Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, University of Glasgow, studying Leishmania mexicana cysteine proteases. This was followed by a further post-doctoral position at the University of Leeds (Elwyn Isaac’s group) studying metalloproteases in the model free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. I joined the University of Salford in 2003 as a lecturer and my fascination with parasites and proteases continues.
I am also passionate about internationalisation of education. To this end, I lead undergraduate exchange programme links (Biology and Biochemistry) with the University of Toledo, Ohio. I am also the ELS International Tutor.
研究领域
One area of research interest is parasite/nematode proteases. Genome sequencing efforts have shown that organisms not only have large and diverse families of proteases but interestingly, they also contain many ‘non-peptidase’ homologues. In collaboration with Elwyn Isaac (University of Leeds) we have shown that a non-peptidase member of the angiotensin-converting enzyme family (acn-1) is essential for moulting in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
My other area of interest is focussed on parasite infections in wildlife; in particular, threatened species of wildlife. For example, bats are host to a multitude of infectious agents, including viruses that pose a zoonotic threat, and parasites. We have recently shown that pipistrelle bats are commonly infected with digenean trematodes; the life-cycle details of many of the species are not fully described. In addition, male pipistrelles showed a significantly more aggregated helminth distribution and lower parasite abundance than female bats. The ecology of these parasite species and how they interact with other co-infections carried by bats remains to be elucidated.
近期论文
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Brooks, D.R. (1995) ‘Isolation and characterisation of the gene encoding dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS) from the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.’ Ph.D thesis, U.M.I.S.T.
Brooks, D.R., Denise, H., Westrop, G.D., Coombs, G.H. & Mottram, J.C. (2001) The stage-regulated expression of Leishmania mexicana CPB cysteine proteases is mediated by an intercistronic sequence element. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 47061-47069.
Brooks,D.R., Appleford, P.J., Murray, L. & Isaac, R.E. (2003) An essential role in moulting and morphogenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans for ACN-1, a novel member of the angiotensin-converting enzyme family that lacks a metallopeptidase active site. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 52340-52346.
Brooks, D.R., Hooper, N.M. & Isaac R.E. (2003) The Caenorhabditis elegans orthologue of mammalian puromycin-sensitive aminopeptidase has roles in embryogenesis and reproduction. J. Biol.Chem.278, 42795-42801.
Fortin, S.M., Marshall, S.L., Jaeger, E.C., Greene, P.E., Brady, L.K., Isaac, R.E., Schrandt, J.C., Brooks, D.R. & Lyczak, R. (2010) The PAM-1 aminopeptidase regulates centrosome positioning to ensure anterior-posterior axis specification in one-cell C. elegans embryos. Dev. Biol. 344, 992-1000.
Lord, J.S., Parker, S., Parker, F. & Brooks, D.R. (2012) Gastrointestinal helminths of pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus/Pipistrellus pygmaeus) (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) of England. Parasitology 139, 366-374.