Photini Sinnis, MD
Highlights
Languages
- English
Gender
FemaleJohns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Photini Sinnis
Professional Titles
- Deputy Director, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute
Background
Dr. Photini Sinnis holds a joint appointment in medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology with a joint appointment in biochemistry and molecular biology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on infectious diseases.
Dr. Sinnis serves as the deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Her team is currently engaged in studying the sporozoite stage of Plasmodium, which is the infective stage of the malaria parasite.
Dr. Sinnis received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her M.D. from Dartmouth College. She completed her residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, she was an associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine in the Department of Medical Parasitology and the Department of Medicine.
Centers and Institutes
Additional Academic Titles
Joint Appointment in Medicine
Research Interests
Infectious diseases, Malaria
Lab Website
Photini Sinnis Lab
Dr. Sinnis conducts research on the fundamental biology of the pre-erythrocytic stages of malaria. Her team is focused on the sporozoite stage of Plasmodium, which is the infective stage of the malaria parasite, and the liver stages into which they develop. Her lab uses classic biochemistry, mutational analysis, and in vitro and in vivo assays to better understand the molecular interactions between the parasite and its mosquito and mammalian hosts.
Selected Publications
Douglas RG, Amino R, Sinnis P, Frischknecht F. “Active migration and passive transport of malaria parasties.” Trends in Parasitology. 1 Aug 2015;31(8): 357-62.
Ejigiri I, Ragheb DRT, Pino P, Coppi A, Bennett BL, Soldati-Favre D, Sinnis P. “Shedding of TRAP by a rhomboid protease from the malaria sporozoite surface is essential for gliding motility and sporozoite infectivity.” PLoS Path. 2012;8. e1002725.
Moreira CK, Naissant B, Coppi A, Bennett BL, Aime E, Franke-Fayard B, Janse CJ, Coppens I, Sinnis P, Templeton TJ. “The plasmodium PHIST and RESA-like protein families of human and rodent malaria parasites.” PLoS ONE. 1 Mar 2016;11(3). e0152510.
Nemetski SM, Cardozo TJ, Bosch G, Weltzer R, O'Malley K, Ejigiri I, Kumar KA, Buscaglia CA, Nussenzweig V, Sinnis P, Levitskaya J, Bosch J. “Inhibition by stabilization: targeting the plasmodium facilparum aldolase-TRAP complex.” Malaria Journal. 20 Aug 2015;14(1):324.
Radtke AJ, Kastenmüller W, Espinosa DA, Gerner MY, Tse SW, Sinnis P, Germain RN, Zavala FP, Cockburn IA. “Lymph-node resident CD8α+ dendritic cells capture antigens from migratory malaria sporozoites and induce CD8+ T cell responses.” PLoS Path. 2015;11(2). e1004637.