Dr Teresa Tiffert
Lecturer E-mail: jtt1000@cam.ac.uk
My main research interests concern active and passive Ca2+ transport, its regulation, its response to humoral and pharmacological agents, and its effects on K+ transport, in normal and abnormal human red blood cells. I have recently set up a laboratory for malaria research in the Department of Physiology. The long term aim of our work is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms which regulate the volume and ion content of parasitised red cells, and to explore the potential therapeutic effects of perturbing their osmotic equilibrium.
Selected Publications:
1. Tiffert, V.L., Daw, N., Etzion, Z., Bookchin, R.M. and Lew, V.L. (2007). Age-decline in the activity of the Ca2+-sensitive K+ channel of human red blood cells. J. Gen. Physiol. 129, 429-436.
2. Lew, V.L., Tiffert, T. (2007). Is invasion efficiency in malaria controlled by pre-invasion events?Trends Parasitol. 23:481-484.
3. Lew, V.L., Daw, N., Etzion, Z., Tiffert, T., Muoma, A., Vanagas, L. and Bookchin, R.M. (2007). Effects of age-dependent membrane transport changes on the homeostasis of senescent human red blood cells. Blood, 110: 1334 - 1342.
4. Tiffert, T., Lew, V. L., Ginsburg, H., Krugliak, M., Croisille, L. and Mohandas, N. (2005). The hydration state of human red blood cells and their susceptibility to invasion by Plasmodium falciparum. Blood,105:4853-4860.
5. Lew, V.L., Tiffert, T., Etzion, Z., Perdomo, D., Daw, N., Macdonald, L. and Bookchin, R.M. (2005). Distribution of dehydration rates generated by maximal Gardos channel activation in normal human red blood cells. Blood, 105:361-367.
6. Lew, V.L., Daw, N., Perdomo, D., Etzion, Z., Bookchin, R.M. and Tiffert, T. (2003). Distribution of plasma membrane Ca2+ pump activity in normal human red blood cells. Blood 102, 4206-4213.
7. Lew, V.L., Tiffert, T. and Ginsburg, H. (2003). Excess hemoglobin digestion and the osmotic stability of Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells. Blood 101, 4189-4194.
8. Raftos, J.E., Edgley, A., Bookchin, R.M., Etzion, Z., Lew V.L. and Tiffert, T. (2001). Normal Ca2+ extrusion by the Ca2+ pump of intact red blood cells exposed to high glucose concentrations. Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol. 280, C1449-C1454.
9. Tiffert, T., Ginsburg, H., Krugliak, M., Elford, B.C. and Lew, V.L. (2000). Potent antimalarial activity of clotrimazole in in vitro cultures of Plasmodium falciparum. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (PNAS), 97, 331-336.