A woman with shoulder-length dark hair, brown eyes, wearing a black top, small stud earrings, and a necklace, stands in front of a gradient blue background.

Gigliola Zanghí, PharmD, PhD

Research Scientist III | Gigliola.Zanghi@seattlechildrens.org

Gigi earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Messina (Italy) and completed her PhD in Parasitology through the French Parasitology Alliance for Health Care (ParaFrap). During her doctoral studies in the Mazier Lab (UPMC, Paris) and in collaboration with the Scherf Lab (Institut Pasteur, Paris), she investigated the epigenetic regulation of Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites and the molecular mechanisms driving quiescence in relapsing Plasmodium species.

Following her PhD, she pursued postdoctoral research at the Institut Pasteur, continuing to explore the epigenetic control of P. falciparum pre-erythrocytic stages. She later joined the Kappe Lab, where her research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms governing dormancy and activation of P. vivax hypnozoites.

Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, traveling, and exploring the stunning natural landscapes of Washington State.

Publications

  1. Zanghi G, et al. Genome-wide gene expression profiles throughout human malaria parasite liver stage development in humanized mice. Nature Microbiology 2025Feb.10(2):569-584. doi: 10.1038/s41564-024-01905-5. PMID: 39891010 PMCID: PMC11790487 Featured in Trends in Parasitology Duffy PE and Tsuji M. Liver-stage malaria transcriptomes: what you don't know can kill you 2025 May;41(5):335-336. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2025.04.003. PubMed PMID: 40263025

  2.  Winnicki A.C., Dietrich M.H., Yeoh L.M., Carias L.L., Roobsoong W., Drago C.L., Malachin A.N., Redinger K.R., Feufack-Donfack L.B., Baldor L., Jung N.C., McLaine O.S., Skomorovska-Prokvolit Y., Orban A., Opi D.H., Kirtley P., Nielson K., Aleshnick M., Zanghi G., et al. Potent AMA1-specific human monoclonal antibody against Plasmodium vivax Pre-erythrocytic and Blood Stages. Nature Communications 2024 Dec; 15:10556. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53848-4. PubMed PMID: 39632799

  3. Goswami D., Arredondo S.A., Betz W., Armstrong J., Kumar S., Zanghi G., et al. A conserved Plasmodium nuclear protein is critical for late liver stage development.Communication Biology 2024 Oct; 7(1):1387. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-07063-y. PubMed PMID: 39455824. 

     

  4. Patel H., Minkah N.K., Kumar S., Zanghi G., et al. Malaria blood stage infection suppresses liver stage infection via host-induced interferons but not hepcidin. Nature Communications 2024 Mar; 15(1):2104. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46270-3. PubMed PMID: 38453916

  5. Eappen A.G., Li T., Marquette M., Chakravarty S., Natasha K., Zanghi G., et al. in vitro production of infectious Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites. Nature 2022 Dec; 612(7940):534-539. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05466-7. Epub 2022 Dec 7. PubMed PMID: 36477528

  6. Gualdrón-López M, Díaz-Varela M, Zanghi G, et al. Identification of putative biomarkers of Plasmodium vivax hypnozoites in extracellular vesicles. Molecular and Cellular Proteomics 2022 Aug 24;100406. doi: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2022.100406. PubMed PMID: 36030044

  7. Zanghi G, Vaughan AM. Plasmodium vivax pre-erythrocytic stages and the latent hypnozoite. Parasitology International 2021 Dec; 85:102447. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2021.102447. Epub 2021 Aug 30. PubMed PMID: 34474178

  8. Schäfer C, Zanghi G, et al. Plasmodium vivax Latent Liver Stage Infection and Relapse: Biological Insights and New Experimental Tools. Annual Reviews in Microbiology 2021Oct 8; 75:87-106. doi: 10.1146/annurev-micro-032421-061155. Epub 2021 Jul 1. PubMed PMID: 34196569.

  9. Zanghì G, et al. A Specific PfEMP1 Is Expressed in P. falciparum Sporozoites and Plays a Role in Hepatocyte Infection. Cell Reports 2018 Mar 13;22(11):2951-2963. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.02.075. PubMed PMID: 29539423; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5863040.

  10. Pierrot C, Zhang X, Zanghi G, et al. Peptides derived from Plasmodium falciparum leucine-rich repeat 1 bind to serine/threonine phosphatase type 1 and inhibit parasite growth in vitro. Drug Design Developmental Therapeutics 2018; 12:85-88. doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S153095. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 29386885; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5765974.

  11. Cubi R, Vembar SS, Biton A, Franetich JF, Bordessoulles M, Sossau D, Zanghi G, et al. Laser capture microdissection enables transcriptomic analysis of dividing and quiescent liver stages of Plasmodium relapsing species. Cellular Microbiology 2017 Aug;19(8). doi: 10.1111/cmi.12735. Epub 2017 Mar 13. PubMed PMID: 28256794; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5516136.

  12. Barata L, Houzé P, Boutbibe K, Zanghi G, et al., In Vitro Analysis of the Interaction between Atovaquone and Proguanil against Liver Stage Malaria Parasites. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2016 Jul;60(7):4333-5. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01685-15. Print 2016 Jul. PubMed PMID: 26926628; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4914690.


  13. Chen PB, Ding S, Zanghì G, et al., Plasmodium falciparum PfSET7: enzymatic characterization and cellular localization of a novel protein methyltransferase in sporozoite, liver and erythrocytic stage parasites. Scientific Reports 2016 Feb 23;6:21802. doi: 10.1038/srep21802. PubMed PMID: 26902486; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4763181.

  14. Soulard V, Bosson-Vanga H, Lorthiois A, Roucher C, Franetich JF, Zanghi G, et al., Plasmodium falciparum full life cycle and Plasmodium ovale liver stages in humanized mice. Nature Communications 2015 Jul 24;6:7690. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8690. PubMed PMID: 26205537; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4525212.

  15. Munier-Lehmann H, Lucas-Hourani M, Guillou S, Helynck O, Zanghi G, et al., Original 2-(3-alkoxy-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)pyrimidine derivatives as inhibitors of human dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH). Journal of Medical Chemistry 2015 Jan 22;58(2):860-77. doi: 10.1021/jm501446r. Epub 2015 Jan 6. PubMed PMID: 25558988.

    Patents: 

    Plasmodium vivax male gamete fusion protein PvHAP2 and the putative proliferating-cell nucleolar antigen P120 as relapse biomarkers. Publication number: 20230045390 Filed: July 6, 2022. Publication date: February 9, 2023