Professor Michael Miles BSc MSc Phd DSc FRCPath

Professor of Medical Protozoology

• Affiliation
• Teaching
• Research
• Publications

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• Room 329b
• LSHTM
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• London
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The research interests of Professor Michael Miles concern: the genetic diversity and molecular genetics of protozoan parasites, particularly Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania species; the epidemiology and control of South American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) and of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis; the molecular taxonomy and phylogenetics of triatomine bugs (Hemiptera:Reduviidae); the ecology of South American mammals, and the control of African trypanosomiasis.

Research collaborations in several South American countries, including Paraguay, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and in the Sudan and Europe. Research projects on Chagas disease and leishmaniasis. Coordinator of EC FP5, FP6 LeishEpiNetSA (12 partners) and FP7 ChagasEpiNet (15 partners).

 

Affiliation

• Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology
• Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Teaching

Founder and Course Director, MSc in the Control of Infectious Diseases (CID).

Founder MSc course in the Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases. 

Module Organiser:

11-week core term 1 teaching for CID, and module 3125 Introduction to Infectious Disease Agents and their Control.

Tutor, PhD supervisor (approx. 30 previous PhD students successfully completed), MSc project supervisor.

Teaching: parasitology, molecular biology, molecular epidemiology on several internal MScs, short courses and external courses.

 

Research

Research is primarily on molecular epidemiology and taxonomy of Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi, and improvement of control strategies, including both fundamental experimental and field research.

Examples of research achievements (with research collaborators) include: 

Described the biochemical and genetic heterogeneity of T. cruzi (Nature publication).

Pioneered the concept of separate, overlapping and enzootic transmission cycles as applied to the epidemiology of Chagas disease.

Showed that Rhodnius prolixus in Venezuela reinvades houses (with Sinead Fitzpatrick).

Circumstantially linked distinct genotypes of T. cruzi to the diverse chronic manifestations of Chagas disease (Brazil and Venezuela; Lancet publication).

Originated the hypothesis that disinct T. cruzi lineages have broad but not exclusive evolutionary associations with arboreal and terrestrial transmission cycles - Didelphis marsupialis a predominant host of T. cruzi I and the armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus associated with T. cruzi III.

Obtained the first experimental proof of genetic exchange in T. cruzi (Nature publication).

Demonstrated that Trypanosoma rangeli is widely distributed in Brazil, and described its hosts and vectors.

Defined biochemical characters distinguishing several New World Leishmania species.

Apply comparative molecular genetics to demonstrate the synonymy of Leishmania chagasi and Leishmania infantum [with Isabel Mauricio].

Described in vitro systems to induce metacyclogenesis in Leishmania donovani and Leishmania braziliensis, showing lentil lectin to be a marker of complement resistance and infectivity [with Keith Howard].

Demonstrated that Didelphis marsupialis is a host of L. guyanensis in Amazonian Brazil (with Jorge Arias).

Described the ecotopes of several Amazonian triatomine species and explained the absence of endemic (domestic) Chagas disease in the Amazon Basin.

Discovered the new triatomine species Rhodnius paraensis, and the silvatic epitope of Panstrongylus megistus in Rio de Janeiro. 

Developed spool-and-line mammal tracking for locating triatomines in animal nests and refuges and for studies of mammal ecology.

Demonstrated L. braziliensis/L. peruviana hybrids and evidence of recombination events in Viannia populations in Peru (with Debbie Nolder).

Drew attention to the global threat of visceral leishmaniasis/HIV co-infection (Nature Correspondence).

Visualisation of hybrid transgenic Leishmania in sand flies (with Sadlova, Yeo, Volf et al.)

Various genetic molecular epidemiological studies of T. cruzi (with EC ChagasEpiNet partners) and Leishmania (with EC LeishEpiNet partners).

Lineage specific T. cruzi synthetic peptide diagnostics (with Tapan Bhattacharyya).

• Selected publications

• Visualisation of Leishmania donovani Fluorescent Hybrids during Early Stage Development in the Sand Fly Vector

  Sadlova, J.; Yeo, M.; Seblova, V.; Lewis, M.D.; Mauricio, I.; Volf, P.; Miles, M.A.

  Plos One, 2011; 6(5)

• Recent, Independent and Anthropogenic Origins of Trypanosoma cruzi Hybrids.

  Lewis, M.D. ; Llewellyn, M.S. ; Yeo, M. ; Acosta, N. ; Gaunt, M.W. ; Miles, M.A. ;

  PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2011; 5(10):e1363

• Genome-scale multilocus microsatellite typing of Trypanosoma cruzi discrete typing unit I reveals phylogeographic structure and specific genotypes linked to human infection.

  Llewellyn, M.S.; Miles, M.A.; Carrasco, H.J.; Lewis, M.D.; Yeo, M.; Vargas, J.; Torrico, F.; Diosque, P.; Valente, V.; Valente, S.A.; Gaunt, M.W.;

  PLoS Pathog, 2009; 5(5):e1000410

• The molecular epidemiology and phylogeography of Trypanosoma cruzi and parallel research on Leishmania: looking back and to the future.

  Miles, M.A.; Llewellyn, M.S.; Lewis, M.D.; Yeo, M.; Baleela, R.; Fitzpatrick, S.; Gaunt, M.W.; Mauricio, I.L.;

  Parasitology, 2009; 136(12):1509-28

• Molecular Genetics Reveal That Silvatic Rhodnius prolixus Do Colonise Rural Houses.

  Fitzpatrick, S.; Feliciangeli, M.D.; Sanchez-Martin, M.J.; Monteiro, F.A.; Miles, M.A.;

  PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2008; 2(4):e210

• Evolutionary and geographical history of the Leishmania donovani complex with a revision of current taxonomy.

  Lukes, J.; Mauricio, I.L.; Schönian, G.; Dujardin, J.C.; Soteriadou, K.; Dedet, J.P.; Kuhls, K.; Tintaya, K.W.; Jirků, M; Chocholová, E.; Haralambous, C.; Pratlong, F.; Oborník, M.; Horák, A.; Ayala, F.J.; Miles, M.A.;

  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2007; 104(22):9375-80

• Mechanism of genetic exchange in American trypanosomes

  Gaunt, M. W.; Yeo, M.; Frame, I. A.; Stothard, J. R.; Carrasco, H. J.; Taylor, M. C.; Mena, S. S.; Veazey, P.; Miles, G. A.; Acosta, N.; de Arias, A. R.; Miles, M. A.

  Nature, 2003; 421(6926):936-9

• American trypanosomiasis (Chagas' disease) and the role of molecular epidemiology in guiding control strategies

  Miles, M. A.; Feliciangeli, M. D.; de Arias, A. R.

  British Medical Journal, 2003; 326(7404):1444-8

• → View all Professor Michael Miles's publications

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