Ann Cali

Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers
Director, NIH-funded Minority Biomedical Research Support Program

Contact Info

Office: 211 Boyden Hall
Office Phone: (973) 353-5364
E-mail: anncali@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Educational Background

Research Interests

As a comparative pathobiologist/protistologist, my laboratory specializes in the study of obligate intracellular parasitic organisms of the phylum, Microsporidia, in all types of hosts including invertebrates, vertebrates, and humans.  We study many aspects of the biology of the microsporidian parasites especially their ultrastructure, specialized and/or unique organelles, development and pathology as well as their distribution, means of transmission, and identification.  We study these parasites in vivo and/or in vitro in cell cultures as the microsporidia cannot be cultivated outside host cell cytoplasm.  Our understanding of animal infections provides insights into human infection, as well as epidemiology, reservoir hosts, and transmission to humans.

Selected Publications

• Cali, A., Weiss, L.M., and Takvorian, P.M.  2005. An Analysis of the Microsporidian Genus Brachiola, with Comparisons of Human and Insect Isolates of B. algerae. J.Euk. Microbiol. 51:678-685.
• Cali, A., Weiss, L.M., and Takvorian, P.M.  2005. A review of the development of two types of human skeletal muscle infections from Microsporidia associated with pathology in invertebrates and cold-blooded vertebrates.  Folia Parasitologica, 52:51-61.
• Takvorian, P.M., Weiss, L.M., and Cali, A.  2005.  The early events of Brachiola algerae infection: spore germination, sporoplasm structure, and development within host cells. Folia Parasitologica, 52:118-129.
• Coyle, C. M. Weiss, L.M., Rhodes III, L. V.  Cali, A., Takvorian, P.M. Brown, D. F. Visvesvara, G. S.  Xiao, L.  Naktin, J.  Young, E.  Gareca, M.  Colasante, G.  and Wittner, M.  2004.  Fatal Myositis Due to the Microsporidian Brachiola algerae, a Mosquito Pathogen.  New England Journal of Medicine. 351: 42-47.
• Cali, A., Weiss, L.M., and Takvorian, P.M.  2004. An Analysis of the Microsporidian Genus Brachiola, with Comparisons of Human and Insect Isolates of B. algerae. J.Euk. Microbiol. 51: 678-685.
• Cali, A. and Takvorian, P.M.  2003. Ultrastructure and development of Pleistophora ronneafiei n. sp. a Microsporidium (Protista) in the skeletal muscle of an immune compromised individual. J.Euk. Microbiol. 50:77-85. (J. cover photo from this article.)
• Cali, A., Weiss, L. and Takvorian, P.M.  2002.  Brachiola algerae spore membrane systems, their activity during extrusion, and a new structural entity associated with the polar tube and the sporoplasm.   J. Euk. Microbiol.  49:164-174.
• Cali, A. and Takvorian, P.M.  2001.  Brachiola algerae Sporoplasms.  J. Euk. Microbiol.  48 Supplement 81S-82S.
• Cali, A., Takvorian, P.M., Lewin, S., Rendel, M., Sian, C. S., Wittner, M.,  Tanowitz, H.B., Keohane, E. and Weiss, L.M.  1998.  Brachiola vesicularum, N.G., N.Sp., a new Microsporidian associated with AIDS and myositis.  J.Euk. Microbiol.  45:240-251.