In his fight against a pathogen that shares much of our biology, James Morris is developing a creative way to turn a parasite’s own evolutionary adaptations against itself.
By Jill Sakai
Photography by Craig Mahaffey ’98
Seen through a microscope, the tiny creatures twirl and twist, their whiplike flagella keeping the beat of their graceful dance. But that elegance belies the threat they hold. These single-celled marvels are Trypanosoma brucei, the African trypanosome, and if they were to get into your bloodstream, they would trigger muscle aches, chills, confusion and — if not caught in time — death.
Transmitted via the bite of an infected tsetse fly, T. brucei causes sleeping sickness and threatens millions of people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Existing treatments require two weeks of intravenous drug administration with toxic side effects. But without treatment, the infection is lethal.
James Morris sees both the biological allure of the parasites and the potential for a better way to kill them. As a Clemson professor of genetics and biochemistry, he is studying these creatures with an eye toward developing an easier, safer and more effective treatment.