Name (First Last): Ivana Baráková
Email: iva.barakova@gmail.com
EDENext Group membership: TBD
Supervisors (Team Leaders): Dr. Annapaola Rizzoli (Group Leader Animal Ecology), Dr. Heidi Hauffe (Group Leader Biodiversity and Environment), Dr Marketa Derdakova (SAS)
Institution: Fondazione Edmund Mach, S. Michele all’Adige (TN), Italy
Member of project since: 1.11.2011
Short description of project activities:
My project activities focus on acquiring quantitative data useful for the development of mathematical models aiming at assessing the risk of the emergence and spread of a series of tick-borne pathogens such as Anaplasma sp., Babesia sp, Borrelia sp, Rickettsia sp, and other recently discovered ones. My work will be based on a combination of field estimate on tick distribution and abundance on hosts and molecular work aiming at identifying pathogens in various developmental stage of the tick I. ricinus other than in the hosts itself. Part of my research will include also the comparison of the results obtained in the province of Trento with those obtained in Slovakia by the Slovak Academy of Sciences with the aim to better understand how variation in habitat structure and host assemblage may affect the emergence and spread of these less studied I. ricinus transmitted pathogens.
Main skills:
Bioinformatics – The use of bioinformatics software, e.g. Blast search, NTI-vector package, Geneous, program Mitoprot II, PDB database, PhyML with evolutionary model JTT displayed by MEGA4, program PyMOL.
Molecular biology – DNA isolation, PCR amplification, targeted DNA mutagenesis, gene cloning, preparation of gene constructs, transformation of DNA into bacteria, gene complementation experiments, fluorescent microscopy methods.
Microbiology techniques – media and solutions preparation, streak out and grow bacterial strains
Are you willing to help other colleagues in EDENext, and if so in what fields or activities:
Yes, I’m willing to help other colleagues in EDENext mainly in field of biochemistry, molecular biology and chemistry.
Anything else you would like to tell us.
Languages spoken: Slovak; English; learning Italian!
