Tim Gilberger

, MSc, PhD

Associate Professor
Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Division: Molecular Medicine

McMaster University
2306 Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery
905-525-9140 ext. 22387
tgilber@mcmaster.ca

Assistant: Arlene Scopaz

Education and Professional Standing

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Melbourne, Australia, 2003       
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Hamburg, Germany, 1999
• PhD Thesis, University of Hamburg, Germany, 1999
• Diploma (Master), Basic and advanced studies in biology, University of Hamburg, Germany, 1996

---

Interests

Research Focus

Malaria is a major public health problem caused by the infection with apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Plasmodium parasites depend on the transmission by mosquitoes and infect an estimated 500 million people annually, resulting in over 1 million deaths each year. Drug resistance is widespread and a vaccine is not available.

Sequencing and publication of the parasite genome and analysis of its transcriptome and proteome provides the research community with exciting new possibilities in the fight against this disease. However, new treatments from genomic targets have yet to arise and there are still multiple “black boxes” in the complex life cycle of the parasite that are beyond our current knowledge. The global efforts to develop vaccines for malaria are based on a handful of parasite antigens. Given the lack of any certainty that these candidate vaccines will be efficacious, there is an urgent need to identify and validate new vaccine candidates and expand the current malaria vaccine portfolio. Equally important, the known molecular targets of the currently available drugs are very limited.

The blood stage of the malaria parasite life cycle is the only stage that causes clinical symptoms. Parasite invasion and multiplication in erythrocytes depends on an unknown number of proteins mediating cell adhesion, motility and invasion. These proteins are of considerable interest in order to define and explore novel therapeutic targets. Key questions driving our research are: How many parasite proteins are involved in invasion? How do they get transported to their final destination? What is their precise role during this process? And: How can we undermine their function to abrogate cell invasion?

We are using a range of cell biological and biochemical approaches to tackle these fascinating questions to establish a molecular invasion map that might lead to the identification of key players (or complexes) exploitable for therapeutic intervention (vaccines and new drugs).

Academic Interests

Dr. Gilberger is actively involved in teaching McMaster students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

---

Team Members

Post-Doctoral Fellows: Susann Herrmann, Ana Cabrera

Graduate Student: Marcel Waschow

Selected Publications

• Leykauf, K., Treeck, M., Gilson, P., Nebl, T., Braulke, T., Cowman, A., Gilberger, T. and Crabb, B. (2010): Protein kinase A-dependent phosphorylation of apical membrane antigen plays an important role in erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite. PLoS Pathogens 6:6 e1000941.
• Hu, G., Cabrera, A. Mok, S. S., Kono, M., Cheemadan, S., Haase, S., Chaal, B. K., Wastuwidyaningtyas, D. B., Spielmann, T., Preiser, P., Gilberger, T.-W. and Bozdech, Z. (2010): Transcriptional profiling of growth perturbations of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.Nat. Biotechnol. 28:91-98.
• Spielmann, T. and Gilberger, T. (2010): Protein export in malaria parasites: do multiple export motifs add up to multiple export pathways? Trends Parasitol., 26: 6-10.
• Treeck, M., Zacherl, S., Herrmann, S., Haase, S., Engelberg, K., Kono, M., Struck, N. S., Cabrera, A., Frischknecht, F., Miura, K., Spielmann, T. and Gilberger, T.-W. (2009): Functional analysis of the leading malaria vaccine candidate AMA-1 reveals an essential role for the cytoplasmic domain in the invasion process. PLoS Pathogens 5: e1000322.
• Haase, S., Herrmann, S., Langer, C., Treeck, M., Cabrera, A., Jansen, P. W., Struck, N. S. Kono, M., Stunnenberg, H. G., Gilberger, T.W. and Spielmann, T. (2009): Sequence requirements for the export of the Plasmodium falciparum Maurer's clefts protein REX2. Mol. Micro. 71: 1003-1017.
• Struck, N.S., Herrmann, S., Langer, C., Krueger, A., Foth, B.J., Engelberg, K., Cabrera, A.L., Haase, S., Treeck, M., Marti, M., Cowman, A.F., Spielmann, T., and Gilberger, T.-W. (2008): Plasmodium falciparum possesses two GRASP proteins that are differentially targeted to the Golgi complex via a higher- and lower-eukaryote-like mechanism. J. Cell Sci. 121: 2123-29.
• Struck, N.S., Herrmann, S., Schmuck-Barkmann, I., de Souza Diaz, S., Haase, S., Cabrera, A.L., Treeck, M., Bruns, C., Langer, C., Cowman, A.F., Marti, M., Tobias Spielmann, T. and Gilberger., T.-W. (2008): Spatial dissection of the cis- and trans-Golgi compartments in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Mol. Micro. 67: 1320-30.