Brenda Leal-Galvan
Mentor since: 2024
Field of Expertise: vector and molecular biology, ticks
Biography:
Brenda Leal-Galvan, is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University. She received her B.S in biology at UT Pan American, M.S. in biology at UTRGV, and her dissertation consists of elucidating the differences and commonalities of the microRNA profiles in extracellular vesicles and the salivary glands of Rhipicephalus microplus. She is the primary author of six publications and has presented in numerous local, national, and international conferences. She has mentored multiple students throughout her academic career, two of which have been published in respectable journals. She has also mentored minority graduate students and has volunteered in several outreach events to educate low-income and Spanish-speaking communities, the public, and livestock handlers on the importance of tick research. With her research, she hopes to discover conserved mechanisms that facilitate tick feeding to define novel targets that can be exploited for the management of tick populations.
Summary Project:
Manuel and I will be deciphering the roles of microRNAs in the tick salivary derived extracellular vesicles. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression. In ticks, miRNAs are known to affect pathogen replication, play a role in important biological processes, and possibly alter a host’s gene expression. EVs are double-lipid membrane vesicles that have shown to aid in pathogen transmission, delay wound healing responses in ticks, and are critical for cell-to-cell communication. In ticks, little is known about how miRNAs are utilized to manipulate a host to ensure a successful feeding event. Thus, this project will investigate the role of tick-derived miRNAs during wound healing responses and active feeding.
University of Texas A&M
Email: brenda.leal@tamu.edu