Protecting Against Parasites: Research Center Combats Formidable Global Diseases

At UGA, the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases battles neglected diseases that threaten populations worldwide

When Chagas disease develops, it can lead to fever, heart, and digestive issues—even death. As with other tropical diseases like malaria, brain-eating amoebae infections, and toxoplasmosis, treatments can be hard to come by and ineffective.

That’s where UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases comes in. For over 20 years, the center’s researchers have used an interdisciplinary approach to advance the fight against these infections and others. In the case of Chagas disease, researchers have recently brought the world one step closer to a cure.

A closeup of medical equipment attached to tiny vials with pink fluid.

What we do in the laboratory can be really important, and if we focus on the right problems, we can actually make a big difference.
Dennis Kyle, Director, Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases

A closeup of a man in a blue-collared shirt smiling outside of an academic building.

Rick Tarleton, the Regents Professor in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and his team have developed the first test of cure for the infection of Chagas.

A Path to Better Treatments

Chagas affects millions and kills thousands in the Americas each year. Treatments are available but curing an infection has long seemed like a far-fetched hope.

But a team of center researchers, led by Rick Tarleton, remained undaunted, making huge strides in June 2025 by developing Chagas’s first test of cure, a standardized method for proving whether a cure works.

“This test of cure is a real game changer for drug treatment studies,” said Brooke White, a lead researcher on the study. “We are already working with other research groups in hopes of creating a quicker and cheaper method of testing parasite load in their drug treatment studies.”

In recognition of their impactful work, Tarleton and his fellow researchers also recently secured over $4 million in funding to support further Chagas research in collaboration with Texas A&M University, clearing the way for greater disease insights and drug development.

“Our goal now is to move this test out of the research lab and into a clinical diagnostic lab where it will be widely accessible for detecting human and dog infections and tracking treatment outcomes,” said Tarleton.

Fighting Diseases of Poverty

Chagas isn’t the only disease the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases battles. In recent years, the center’s researchers received national awards and million-dollar NIH grants for their pioneering work studying malaria.

And in the fight against toxoplasmosis, a condition caused by a food-borne parasite that infects around a third of the global population, the center’s researchers recently developed a new tool using advanced glycoscience techniques, enabling them to understand the source parasite’s critical weaknesses.

In addition to their roles at the center, these researchers hold faculty positions in a wide range of schools, from the College of Veterinary Medicine to departments at the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences. This interdisciplinary structure allows them to apply their unique specialties to advance their work.

By leveraging their expertise, resources, and passion for research, the center’s team continues to contribute to the global health landscape, pushing forward in the fight against global infectious diseases.

A man in a white lab coat is reflected on a screen next to him.

Dennis Kyle is the director for the Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases.