Faculty Directory

Evelien Bunnik, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics

Currently seeking M.S. & Ph.D. students

The overall research goal of the Bunnik laboratory is to understand the development and maintenance of protective antibody responses in malaria-experienced individuals and to use this knowledge towards the design of a novel, effective malaria vaccine. To identify targets of protective anti-malaria humoral immunity, we screen and clone antibodies from protected individuals living in malaria-endemic regions, followed by further characterization of antibodies reactive against the malaria parasite.

In addition, we study the development of B cells responses to Plasmodium falciparum infection. Using high-parameter flow cytometry and single-cell sequencing, we aim to better understand how B cells respond to different antigens and which B cell responses underlie long-lived immunological memory. Using B cell receptor (BCR) sequencing to track clonally related cells, we investigate the development and differentiation pathways of B cells in Plasmodium-exposed individuals. 

An additional focus of the lab is the regulation of gene expression in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, by epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional mechanisms