Dr Sam Alsford BSc MSc PhD
- Lab 333 & Office 380
- LSHTM
- Keppel Street
- London
- WC1E 7HT
- T: 020 7927 2699
I've been fascinated by parasite biology since carrying out two projects on Schistosome blood flukes during my BSc at Imperial College. After completing an MSc in Applied Molecular Biology at LSHTM, I moved to Manchester to study in Prof Keith Gull's lab where my PhD studies focused on gene expression and genome organisation in Trypanosoma brucei.
http://homepages.lshtm.ac.uk/%7Eipmbdhor/Sam%20-%20Past.htm
Affiliation
Teaching
I deliver lectures on the core parasitology & entomology and molecular biology courses in term 1. I'm also involved in the advanced molecular biology module (3158) in term 2, assisting in practical classes and delivering lectures on prokaryotic and eukaryotic gene expression.
Research
I'm based in Dr David Horn's laboratory, where we work on the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, an organism of medical and veterinary importance.
I have a broad range of research interests, including: the regulation of gene expression in T. brucei, in particular focusing on the molecular control of antigenic variation; DNA repair and recombination; histone modification; and, more recently, mechanisms of drug uptake, intracellular transit and resistance.
All of this work is underpinned by a constant process of tool development, leading to a range of molecular tools that enable low, medium and high throughput research in the lab, details of which can be found on the Horn lab web page.
http://homepages.lshtm.ac.uk/%7Eipmbdhor/dhhome.htm
Research areas
- Drug resistance
- Trypanosomes
Disciplines
- Cell biology
- Genomics
- Molecular biology
Other interests
- Antigenic Variation
- Gene Expression
- Histone Modifications
-
Selected publications
-
High-throughput decoding of antitrypanosomal drug efficacy and resistance.
Alsford, S. ; Eckert, S. ; Baker, N. ; Glover, L. ; Sanchez-Flores, A. ; Leung, K.F. ; Turner, D.J. ; Field, M.C. ; Berriman, M. ; Horn, D. ;
Nature, 2012; 482(7384):232-6
-
Elongator Protein 3b Negatively Regulates Ribosomal DNA Transcription in African Trypanosomes.
Alsford, S. ; Horn, D. ;
Mol Cell Biol, 2011;
-
High throughput phenotyping using parallel sequencing of RNA interference targets in the African trypanosome.
Alsford, S. ; Turner, D. ; Obado, S. ; Sanchez-Flores, A. ; Glover, L. ; Berriman, M. ; Hertz-Fowler, C. ; Horn, D. ;
Genome Res, 2011;
-
Single-locus targeting constructs for reliable regulated RNAi and transgene expression in Trypanosoma brucei.
Alsford, S.; Horn, D.;
Mol Biochem Parasitol, 2008; 161(1):76-9
-
A sirtuin in the African trypanosome is involved in both DNA repair and telomeric gene silencing but is not required for antigenic variation.
Alsford, S.; Kawahara, T.; Isamah, C.; Horn, D.;
Mol Microbiol, 2007; 63(3):724-36
-
RNA polymerase I transcription stimulates homologous recombination in Trypanosoma brucei.
Alsford, S.; Horn, D.;
Mol Biochem Parasitol, 2007; 153(1):77-9
-
Tagging a T. brucei RRNA locus improves stable transfection efficiency and circumvents inducible expression position effects.
Alsford, S.; Kawahara, T.; Glover, L.; Horn, D.;
Mol Biochem Parasitol, 2005; 144(2):142-8
- → View all Dr Sam Alsford's publications
