Position
Research leader (CR) CNRS
Team "Molecular approaches for new antimalarial strategies"
Contact
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +33 (0)4 67 14 36 87
Biography
Initially trained as a microbiologist, I enrolled in the PhD programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in Cambridge (UK), to study malaria functional genetics in 2010. During this period, I established technology (barseq) that opened malaria research to large-scale reverse genetic screening. As a postdoc, we further developed this technology and performed the first genome scale essentiality screen in a malaria parasite. We showed that malaria parasites have the highest proportion of essential genes ever reported – likely a consequence of genomic reductions during the evolution of parasitism. Whilst at the Sanger, I also participated in the development of Plasmodium single cell transcriptomics. Afterwards, in 2016, I joined the LSHTM in London, and conducted a genomic epidemiological surveillance project to assess the prevalence of Zika and dengue viruses, in the archipelago of Cape Verde.
I was recruited by the CNRS as CRCN in Dec 2018, and joined the LPHI, in Montpellier.
My group is currently funded by the starting grant ANR JCJC (2020-2024) and i-SITE MUSE (2021-2023). Our goal is to explore DNA replication and cell cycle regulation in malaria parasites.
Publications
Gomes AR, Marin-Menendez A, Adjalley S, Bardy C, Cassan C, Lee M, et al. A transcriptional switch controls sex determination in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature. 2022.
Ward D, Gomes AR, Tetteh K, Sepulveda N, Gomez LF, Campino S, Clark TG. Sero-epidemiological study of arbovirus infection following the 2015–2016 Zika virus outbreak in Cabo Verde. Sci Reports. 2022
Gurung P, Gomes AR, Martins RM, Juranek SA, Alberti P, Mbang‐Benet D, et al. PfGBP2 is a novel G‐quadruplex binding protein in Plasmodium falciparum. Cell Microbiol. 2021
Gazanion E, Lacroix L, Alberti P, Gurung P, Wein S, Cheng M, Mergny JL, Gomes AR* and Lopez-Rubio JJ*, Genome wide distribution of G-quadruplexes and their impact on gene expression in malaria parasites. PLoS Genet. 2020
Benavente ED, Gomes AR, Silva JR, Grigg MJ, Walker H, Barber B, William T, Yeo TW, Sessions PF, Ramaprasad A, Ibrahim A, Charleston J, …, Campino SG, Clark T., “Whole genome sequencing of amplified Plasmodium knowlesi DNA from unprocessed blood reveals genomic exchange events between Malaysian Peninsular and Borneo subpopulations”. Scientific Reports. 2019
He Y, Campino S, Diez Benavente E, Warhurst DC, Beshir KB, Lubis I, Gomes AR, Feng J, Jiazhi W, Sun X, Huang F, Tang LH, Sutherland CJ, Clark TG. Artemisinin resistance-associated markers in Plasmodium falciparum parasites from the China-Myanmar border: predicted structural stability of K13 propeller variants detected in a low-prevalence area. PLoS One. 2019
Fang H*, Gomes AR*, Klages N, Pino P, Maco B, Walker EM, Zenonos ZA, Angrisano F, Baum J, Doerig C, Baker DA, Billker O, Brochet M. Epistasis studies reveal redundancy among calcium-dependent protein kinases in motility and invasion of malaria parasites. Nat Commun. 2018
Reid AJ*, Talman AM*, Bennett HM*, Gomes AR, Sanders MJ, Illingworth CJR, Billker O, Berriman M, Lawniczak MK. Single-cell RNA-seq reveals hidden transcriptional
variation in malaria parasites. Elife. 2018
Bushell E*, Gomes AR*, Sanderson T*, Anar B, Girling G, Herd C, Metcalf T, Modrzynska K, Schwach F, Martin RE, Mather MW, McFadden GI, Parts L, Rutledge GG, Vaidya AB, Wengelnik K, Rayner JC, Billker O. Functional Profiling of a Plasmodium Genome Reveals an Abundance of Essential Genes. Cell. 2017
Mancio-Silva L, Slavic K, Grilo Ruivo MT, Grosso AR, Modrzynska KK, Vera IM,Sales-Dias J, Gomes AR, MacPherson CR, Crozet P, Adamo M, Baena-Gonzalez E,Tewari R, Llinás M, Billker O, Mota MM. Nutrient sensing modulates malariaparasite virulence. Nature. 2017
Dombrowski JG, Souza RM, Curry J, Hinton L, Silva NRM, Grignard L, Gonçalves LA, Gomes AR, Epiphanio S, Drakeley C, Huggett J, Clark TG, Campino S, Marinho CRF. G6PD deficiency alleles in a malaria-endemic region in the Western Brazilian Amazon. Malar J. 2017
Gomes AR, Ravenhall M, Benavente ED, Talman A, Sutherland C, Roper C, Clark TG, Campino S. Genetic diversity of next generation antimalarial targets: A baseline for drug resistance surveillance programmes. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist. 2017
Modrzynska K, Pfander C, Chappell L, Yu L, Suarez C, Dundas K, Gomes AR, Goulding D, Rayner JC, Choudhary J, Billker O. A Knockout Screen of ApiAP2 Genes Reveals Networks of Interacting Transcriptional Regulators Controlling the Plasmodium Life Cycle. Cell Host Microbe. 2017
Gomes AR, Talman AM. Commitment issues in Plasmodium. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2016
Gomes AR, Bushell E, Schwach F, Girling G, Anar B, Quail MA, Herd C, Pfander C, Modrzynska K, Rayner JC, Billker O. A genome-scale vector resource enables high-throughput reverse genetic screening in a malaria parasite. Cell Host Microbe. 2015
Schwach F*, Bushell E*, Gomes AR, Anar B, Girling G, Herd C, Rayner JC, Billker O. PlasmoGEM, a database supporting a community resource for large-scale experimental genetics in malaria parasites. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015
Brochet M, Collins MO, Smith TK, Thompson E, Sebastian S, Volkmann K, Schwach F, Chappell L, Gomes AR, Berriman M, Rayner JC, Baker DA, Choudhary J, Billker O. Phosphoinositide metabolism links cGMP-dependent protein kinase G to essential Ca²⁺ signals at key decision points in the life cycle of malaria parasites. PLoS Biol. 2014
Suarez C, Volkmann K, Gomes AR, Billker O, Blackman MJ. The malarial serine protease SUB1 plays an essential role in parasite liver stage development. PLoS Pathog. 2013
Gomes-Santos CS, Braks J, Prudêncio M, Carret C, Gomes AR, Pain A, Feltwell T, Khan S, Waters A, Janse C, Mair GR, Mota MM. Transition of Plasmodium
sporozoites into liver stage-like forms is regulated by the RNA binding protein Pumilio. PLoS Pathog. 2011
