Professor Sebastian Lourido
Published: 30 January 2026
Friday, 20 March 2026, 2-3pm
- Associate Professor of Biology at Whitehead Instituate & MIT
- Location: Room C222, BHF Building
Title: Global approaches to explore the divergent cell biology of apicomplexan parasites
Synopsis:
The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii survives by navigating constantly shifting environments—crossing cellular barriers, remodelling host defences, and ultimately establishing long-term reservoirs within tissues. Our recent work explores the use of global approaches in functional genomics and proteomics to reveal divergent features of apicomplexan cell biology. Screens exploring the metabolic stress experienced during parasite crowding have uncovered an RNA-binding factor, TgPRO, that adjusts expression of pathways supporting redox balance and iron-sulfur cluster assembly in the parasite mitochondrion. Parallel efforts exploring proteome wide-implementation of crosslinking mass spectrometry, reveal a rich landscape of divergent proteins that function as essential components of conserved complexes. One such example points to an alternative ATP synthase complex in the parasite mitochondrion. Together these approaches reveal novel aspects of parasite cell biology, highlighting particularly divergent features in mitochondrial biology.
Bio:
Sebastian Lourido is an Associate Professor of Biology at MIT and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where his lab investigates the molecular hallmarks of apicomplexan parasitism. Lourido grew up in Cali, Colombia, before attending Tulane University in New Orleans, where he earned degrees in Studio Art and Cell and Molecular Biology. He then worked as a research assistant in the laboratory of Arturo Zychlinsky, at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, before returning to the US for graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis. Under the mentorship of L. David Sibley, Lourido started his work on the apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, identifying cellular pathways that regulate the parasite’s lytic cycle and earning his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis. In 2012, in lieu of traditional postdoctoral training, Lourido started his own lab as a Whitehead Fellow and was awarded an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award. As a Fellow, Lourido continued working on T. gondii and established the first genome-wide screens for apicomplexan parasites. Lourido was then recruited to his present position where he continues to run a productive research program and co-teaches undergraduate courses in Microbial Pathogenesis and Cell Biology.
First published: 30 January 2026
<< Seminars