Keynote Speaker

Scott Dawson

UC Davis

"A cytoskeletal perspective on Giardia host attachment and colonization"

Dr. Scott Dawson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and UC Davis. The Dawson lab studies the role of cytoskeleton in the pathogenesis of the protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis and the genomics of protists. The lab uses molecular biology, microscopy, genomics and bioinformatics in their studies. Some of the foci include Giardia cytoskeleton and attachment to host cells, flagella assembly and division, and genomic studies of protozoans.

Selected Publications

1. Dawson SC, Paredez AR (2013). Alternative cytoskeletal landscapes: cytoskeletal novelty and evolution in basal excavate protists. Curr Opin Cell Biol 25(1):134-41
2. Schwartz CL, Heumann JM, Dawson SC, Hoenger A. (2012). A detailed, hierarchical study of Giardia lamblia's ventral disc reveals novel microtubule-associated protein complexes. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e43783.
3. Woessner DJ and Dawson SC. (2012). The Giardia “median body protein” is a ventral disc protein that is critical for maintaining a domed disc conformation during attachment. Eukaryotic Cell 11(3): 292-301.
4. Hirst MB, Kita K, and Dawson SC. (2011). Uncultivated microbial eukaryotic diversity: a method to link ssu rRNA gene sequences with morphology. PLoS One 6(12): e28158.
5. Hagen KD, Hirakawa MP, House SA, Schwartz CL, Pham JK, Cipriano MJ, De La Torre MJ, Sek AC, Du G, Forsythe BM, Dawson SC. (2011). Novel structural components of the ventral disc and lateral crest in Giardia intestinalis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 5(12): e1442.
6. House SA, Richter D, Pham JK, and Dawson SC. (2011). Giardia Flagellar Motility is Not Directly Required to Maintain Attachment to Surfaces. PLoS Pathogens 7:e1002167.
7. Wilson KL and Dawson SC. (2011). Functional evolution of nuclear structure. Journal of Cell Biology 195 (2): 171-181.
8. Fritz-Laylin LK, Ginger ML, Walsh C, Dawson SC and Fulton C. (2011). The Naegleria genome: a free-living microbial eukaryote lends unique insights into core eukaryotic cell biology. Res. Microbiol 162: 607-618.
9. Fritz-Laylin LK, Prochnik SE, Ginger ML, Dacks JB, Carpenter ML, Field MC, Kuo A, Paredez A, Chapman J, Pham J, Shu S, Neupane R, Cipriano M, Mancuso J, Tu H, Salamov A, Lindquist E, Shapiro H, Lucas S, Grigoriev IV, Cande WZ, Fulton C, Rokhsar DS, Dawson SC. (2010). The genome of Naegleria gruberi illuminates early eukaryotic versatility. Cell 140(5):631-42.