Tamar Carter, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biology
Tropical Disease Biologist
Education
PhD, Genetics, University of Florida
MPH, Epidemiology, University of Florida
BS, Nutrition Sciences, University of Florida
Courses Taught
- BIO 2306 Genetics
- BIO 4365 Topics in Evolution
- BIO 5V90 Individual Topics
- BIO 5V99 Thesis
- BIO 6101 Research Rotation
In the News
Baylor Connections: Dr. Tamar Carter and Dr. Jason Pitts
Mosquito Known to Transmit Malaria Has Been Detected in Ethiopia for the First Time
Biography
Tamar Carter earned her PHD in Genetic and Genomics and MPH (concentration Epidemiology) at the University of Florida where she studied genetic variation associated with parasite antimalarial resistance and host genetic red blood cell disorders in Haiti. Her interest in bridging research and public health led her to complete an internship at the UF Public Health Laboratory in Gressier, Haiti and serve as a James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. During her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, her interests grew to include malaria vector surveillance through collaborations with Jigjiga University in east Ethiopia. Now at Baylor, Dr. Carter’s research program applies both molecular and data science approaches to investigate vector and parasite evolution, coevolution, and ecology to inform strategies for malaria control.
Research Interests
Vector-borne diseases are a persistent global health threat. A plethora of questions remain about the evolutionary changes that occur within a vector-borne disease system in settings of recent mosquito vector invasions and range expansions. Understanding how mosquito vectors adapt to new environments with different climates, landscapes, and anthropogenic forces can inform models of future spread. Furthermore, understanding the compatibility between invasive vectors and local parasite populations before and after invasions is crucial for predicting the impact of invasions on local malaria epidemiology. Dr. Carter’s research program explores these topics using genomic analysis of natural vector and parasite populations. The lab is currently investigating the phylogeographic history of the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles stephensi’s invasion in east Africa and the environmental factors that facilitate its spread. The lab is also investigating the prevalence and molecular mechanisms of resistance to various classes of insecticides and variation in midgut microbial composition in this species, data that can be leveraged for the development of novel vector control tools. The data science arm of the research program includes the development and/or utilization of genetic and epidemiological databases for modelling geographic variation in malaria transmission intensity. Other projects utilize protein-protein interaction databases to identify the molecular basis of parasite-vector compatibility. The lab also partners with multiple public health and academic institutions in East Africa to plan and conduct molecular surveillance of local vector populations.
Selected Publications
- Samake JN, Yared S, Getachew D, Mumba P, Dengela D, Yohannes G, Chibsa S, Choi SH, Spear J, Irish SR, Zohdy S. Detection and population genetic analysis of kdr L1014F variant in eastern Ethiopian Anopheles stephensi. Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 2022 Feb 2:105235.
- Carter TE, Gebresilassie A, Hansel S, Damodaran L, Montgomery C, Bonnell V, Lopez K, Janies D, Yared S. Analysis of the knockdown resistance locus (kdr) in Anopheles stephensi, An. arabiensis, and Culex pipiens sl for insight Into the evolution of target-site pyrethroid resistance in eastern Ethiopia. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 2022 Feb;106(2):632.
- Carter TE, Yared S, Getachew D, Spear J, Choi SH, Samake JN, Mumba P, Dengela D, Yohannes G, Chibsa S, Murphy M. Genetic diversity of Anopheles stephensi in Ethiopia provides insight into patterns of spread. Parasites & vectors. 2021 Dec;14(1):1-2.
- Balkew M, Mumba P, Dengela D, Yohannes G, Getachew D, Yared S, Chibsa S, Murphy M, George K, Lopez K, Janies D. Geographical distribution of Anopheles stephensi in eastern Ethiopia. Parasites & vectors. 2020 Dec;13(1):1-8.
- Yared S, Gebressielasie A, Damodaran L, Bonnell V, Lopez K, Janies D, Carter TE. Insecticide resistance in Anopheles stephensi in Somali Region, eastern Ethiopia. Malaria journal. 2020 Dec;19(1):1-7.
- Carter TE, Yared S, Hansel S, Lopez K, Janies D. Sequence-based identification of Anopheles species in eastern Ethiopia. Malaria journal. 2019 Dec;18(1):1-7.
- Carter TE, Yared S, Gebresilassie A, Bonnell V, Damodaran L, Lopez K, Ibrahim M, Mohammed S, Janies D. First detection of Anopheles stephensi Liston, 1901 (Diptera: culicidae) in Ethiopia using molecular and morphological approaches. Acta tropica. 2018 Dec 1;188:180-6.
- Carter TE, Malloy H, Existe A, Memnon G, St. Victor Y, Okech BA, Mulligan CJ. Genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum in Haiti: insights from microsatellite markers. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 13;10(10):e0140416.
- Carter TE, Boulter A, Existe A, Romain JR, Victor JY, Mulligan CJ, Okech BA. Artemisinin resistance-associated polymorphisms at the K13-propeller locus are absent in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Haiti. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 2015 Mar 4;92(3):552.