Professional Profile

Witola, William Harold

Associate Professor of Veterinary Parasitology.
Principal Investigator, The Witola Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology.

Department of Pathobiology

College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Room 2432 Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building, MC-002

2001 S Lincoln Avenue

Urbana, Illinois 61802, USA

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2308-0539

Education

1995: B.Vet.Med. (Veterinary Medicine), University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.

1998: M.Sc. (Veterinary Biochemistry), University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.

2001: Certificate (Advanced Molecular Protozoology), Obihiro University, Obihiro, Japan.

2005: Ph.D. (Veterinary Medical Sciences/Molecular Parasitology), Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

2005: Postdoctoral Fellow (Molecular Parasitology), Hokkaido University, Japan.

2005-2008: Postdoctoral Fellow (Molecular Parasitology), University of Connecticut Medical Center, Farmington, USA.

2008-2010: Postdoctoral Fellow (Molecular Parasitology), University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, USA.

The Witola laboratory’s research interests are in protozoan and nematode parasites of medical and veterinary significance, with the goal of identifying, characterizing, and validating novel molecular targets for anti-parasite drug and vaccine development, as well as deciphering host innate immune molecular mechanisms that are important in resistance to parasitic infections. The lab's current specific research projects are as follows:

1. Targeting inhibition of essential enzymes for development of novel efficacious drugs against Cryptosporidium infections.

2. Phospholipid biosynthetic and catecholamines catabolic pathways as molecular drug targets in parasitic nematodes.

3. Host-parasite molecular net-works mediating resistance to Toxoplasma and Neospora.