2005-present Ph.D. in Entomology, University of Georgia , Athens, Georgia

2005 B.S. Biology, Major in Microbiology and Parasitology
University of Panama, Panama

Insects have an immune system capable of recognizing and neutralizing pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses) and parasitoids. They possess a two-way system: humoral and cellular. In the humoral response, the production of antimicrobial peptides and other substances, elicits complex signaling mechanisms. In the cell mediated response we have the phenomena of encapsulation/melanization and phagocytosis. Each type of pathogen triggers a particular response mediated by the release of some factors that activate genes involved in different cascades.

My dissertation research focuses on the characterization of mosquito hemocytes, particularly the signaling mechanism involved in the cell lineages specification in Anopheles gambiae. Hemocytes are the equivalent of lymphocytes in insects, immune cells capable of destroying pathogens and engulfing material during metamorphosis.  In Drosophila, there is a group of transcription factors involved in the cell lineage specification during embryogenesis. How do they become specialized cells? What regulates their differentiation? Those are question we are currently trying to address by using RNAi in mosquito embryos. The long term goal is to determine the genes that interplay to generate the different hemocyte types; when during embryonic development (besides larval stage?) are they produced?

Castillo, J.C., A.E. Robertson, and M.R. Strand. 2006. Characterization of hemocytes from the mosquitoes Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti. Insect Biochem. & Mol. Biol. Dec 36 (12): 891-903

Ramos, C.W, J.C. Castillo, B. Bernal and R.F. Lee. 2006. Molecular characterization of Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV) isolates from Panama and Peru. In: Proceedings of the 16 th Conference of the International Organization of Citrus Virologist (IOCV), 159-172. Riverside , CA.