Lesley Bell-Sakyi will present her work on “The Tick Cell Biobank: tick and insect cell lines for vector-pathogen research”, Thursday the 30th of November, at 11 am, salle des Thèses Chantal Rabourdin-Combe, ENS de Lyon.

Lesley Bell-Sakyi manages the Tick Cell Biobank, the world’s largest collection of continuous cell lines derived from ticks and other arthropods. Her particular expertise lies in the establishment of continuous cell lines (nearly 70 to date) from embryonic, larval, nymphal, and adult tissues of a range of tick and insect species, and the propagation and study of viral, bacterial, and protozoan pathogens in arthropod cell and organ culture systems. Lesley’s career spans 46 years of research on ticks and tick-borne diseases of livestock and humans at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (1977-2008 including three years’ fieldwork on secondment to the Ghana Government Veterinary Services Department) and Roslin Institute (2008-2012), The Pirbright Institute (2012-2017) and the University of Liverpool (since 2017). She has worked with arboviruses, intracellular bacteria of the genera Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma, and Wolbachia, and protozoa of the genera Babesia and Theileria. She holds degrees of BSc in Biology (Aberdeen, 1976), MPhil (Edinburgh, 1983), and PhD (Utrecht, 2004). Lesley has co-authored over 130 research papers and, through the Tick Cell Biobank, maintains collaborative links with over 45 research institutes in the UK, Europe, and worldwide.

Abstract

Continuous cell lines derived from ticks and insects play an essential role in many areas of research into tick-borne viral and bacterial pathogens. The Tick Cell Biobank (TCB) is the world’s only dedicated culture collection for cell lines derived from ticks and other arthropod vectors. Based at the University of Liverpool, the TCB also has Outposts in Malaysia, Kenya, and Brazil. The TCB houses and supplies arthropod cell lines to scientists across six continents, and provides training in their maintenance to ensure successful transfer to, and application in, the recipient laboratory. The TCB also generates and characterizes new cell lines from ticks and insects not already represented in the collection, with a focus on neglected vectors, and maintains a small collection of intracellular arthropod-borne bacteria. Through the provision of these resources, the parent TCB and TCB Outposts underpin international scientific research on vector-borne pathogens and symbionts.

Host: Pierre-Yves Lozach (iWAYS-IVPC)