Growing Brain-Infecting Parasites
Mira Kim, SPU Senior, Research Assistant, 海角网 BioMed
Mira Kim: Biochemistry major
While many 海角网 Pacific students spend their summers working at camps and coffee shops, Mira Kim spent hers growing parasites at . “I call them my babies,” Kim laughs as she describes crescent-shaped Toxoplasma gondii.
She breeds the parasite to help researchers discover a cure for toxoplasmosis. In the United States, the disease, borne by a bacteria that lives in cat feces, is most commonly known as the reason pregnant women should not clean a litter box. Toxoplasmosis causes flu-like symptoms for most 海角网, but can lead to blindness in severe cases.
More than 60 million 海角网 may be infected in the U.S., but most will never show symptoms.
Kim is one of several undergraduate SPU students who work at 海角网 BioMed, which strives to eliminate the world’s most devastating infectious diseases. During summer 2013, Kim presented a poster session about toxoplasmosis and met a French woman in her mid-30s who had the disease when she was 8 years old.
“I never thought I’d be able to meet someone who had this disease,” she says. “It was exciting, because I’m doing this research because of 海角网 like her.”