MEET THE CREW

Dinglasan Lab Team

Dr. Rhoel Dinglasan

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Dinglasan is a professor at the University of Florida, Associate Chair of Research in Department of Infectious Diseases & Immunology and the Director, CDC Southeastern Center of Excellence for Vector Borne Diseases

Luis A. Alonso-Palomares

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

Luis A. Alonso Palomares, hails from Mexico. He is a biologist by profession, and completed his master’s and PhD degrees in immunology. His virologist soul is interested in public health, particularly in the arbovirus field. He investigates virus-vector relationships, from researching comparative immunology, molecular mechanisms, to completing surveillance and developing vaccines. He likes to exercise outdoors, play volleyball, go to the movies, and spend time outside with a good beer.

Jeff Gruntmeir

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

Jeff Gruntmeir (MSc, PhD) is a postdoctoral associate at the SECVBD focusing in tick surveillance and tick-borne disease in the Dinglasan lab. He has a diverse background of training and experience in biological and chemical detection, microbiology, and completed his master’s and PhD focusing on Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Parasitology. Jeff has broad One Health interests in zoonotic parasites, emerging and neglected vector borne diseases. When not in the lab, Jeff enjoys exploring Florida’s state parks beaches with his wife Kaylynn, and his 2 daughters.

Alaina Keith

MSC STUDENT

Alaina Keith is pursuing a Master’s in Infectious Diseases and Immunology. She hopes to launch a career surveying infectious diseases in canine shelter populations. In her free time, she can be found with one of my numerous rescue animals or somewhere exploring outside.

Latifeh Dahmash

PROGRAM COORDINATOR - AFRICA

Latifeh (Tiff) is a consultant in the Dinglasan lab. She holds an MSc in Public Health, alongside additional training in applied and infectious disease epidemiology, and is the program coordinator for the Serological Insight into Covid-19 Transmission in Africa (SICA) study in Nigeria and Cameroon, as well as the First-In-Human study for the AnAPN1 malaria transmission-blocking vaccine in Gabon.

Kassidy Caride

PROGRAM COORDINATOR - US & CARIBBEAN

Kassidy Caride has her Master of Public Health degree and her interests lie in project coordination and vector-borne diseases. She is new to the Dinglasan lab and delighted to join the team. In her free time, she enjoys walking the beach with her dog.

Sai Lata De

RESEARCH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Sai Lata De is a Research Assistant Professor who recently joined our team. She is an immunoparasitologist with a vision to develop platforms that thoroughly enable our understanding of host-pathogen interactions, develop pre-clinical models for infectious diseases, and self-adjuvanting vaccines.  Her area of research is malaria with a specific interest in vaccine development as she has extensively worked with both whole parasitic vaccines and subunit vaccines.  

John “Jack” F. Williams

INSECTARY SUPPORT TECHNICIAN

John is a new insectary support technician currently completing his undergraduate degree in entomology. His focus is on medical entomology, particularly mosquito vector-borne diseases. In his free time, he enjoys hiking through nature preserves throughout Florida and playing water polo.

Asha Maria Mathew

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

A passionate Virologist, Asha obtained her PhD from the National Institute of Virology in Pune, the main center for viral diagnosis and research in India. She is particularly interested in research related to viral entry and replication, viral host protein interactions, and development of novel therapeutic interventions for emerging viruses, especially for RNA viruses.

In addition to research, Asha loves to explore new places and food with her husband Abhishek and she tries to grow a kitchen garden in her yard.

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Learn more about the research in the Dinglasan Laboratory.

Latest News

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UF Professor of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Rhoel Dinglasan, discusses the new saliva COVID tests

Posted OnAugust 20, 2021
By epiadmin

Watch WCJB TV20 video here.

First in human clinical trials of the AnAPN1 malaria transmission-blocking vaccine

Posted OnMarch 31, 2021
By epiadmin

Former director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Christian Loucq, M.D., says it is exciting to see Dinglasan’s concept moving toward a clinical trial. “There

Clustered rapid induction of apoptosis limits ZIKV and DENV-2 proliferation in the midguts of Aedes aegypti

Posted OnJanuary 15, 2021
By epiadmin

Jasmine’s 1st first-author paper (Yay Jasmine!) that dissects very early innate immune defense mechanisms of mosquito vectors following infection with flaviviruses. Inter-host transmission of pathogenic