Richard John Wheeler

This study uses electron tomography to investigate basal body dynamics during microgamete formation and fertilization in Plasmodium, revealing novel structural features and their role in gamete fusion.

This study shows trypanosomatids use homodimeric kinesin-2 motors KIN2A and KIN2B for intraflagellar transport, with KIN2B being essential and KIN2A having a more limited role.

The paper develops tools to annotate mRNA features in trypanosomatid parasites using RNA sequencing data and applies them to annotate UTRs across available genomes.

The paper introduces a Python module for accessing TrypTag data on protein subcellular localization in Trypanosoma brucei and demonstrates its use in analyzing age-based organelle composition differences.

This study identifies specific dynein contributions to flagellar beat types in Leishmania, challenging the existing model of dynein function in flagellar beating.

The paper identifies 34 transporter genes essential for Leishmania promastigote survival in sand flies, with V-ATPase subunits critical for parasite differentiation and life cycle progression.

The paper identifies conserved proximal-distal asymmetries in flagellar axoneme proteins in trypanosomatids and shows their role in controlling flagellum beat frequency.

The paper introduces a CRISPR/Cas9-based protein tagging system for Kinetoplastids that preserves endogenous regulatory elements and demonstrates its utility in studying gene regulation.

The paper identifies essential membrane transporters for Leishmania survival through a CRISPR-Cas9 gene deletion screen, finding that V-ATPase is critical for amastigote survival despite being dispensable for promastigote growth.

This paper develops a computational model to predict DNA mechanics from sequence, revealing mechanical selection in diverse eukaryotes and identifying extreme DNA mechanics in nature.

The paper shows nucleolar targeting in Trypanosoma brucei is mediated by positive charge, contributing to sorting of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic ribosome proteins.