
Elissa A Hallem
Department Vice Chair, MIMG, MIMG, University of California Los Angeles
Professor, MIMG, University of California Los Angeles
ehallem@ucla.edu
(310) 825-1778
BSRB 290D
Los Angeles, CA 90095
UNITED STATES
Our research focuses on sensory circuit function in parasitic and free-living animals, and lies at the interface of neurobiology and parasitology. Nearly all organisms respond to sensory stimuli, but how sensory circuits specify behavior is poorly understood. We are investigating the neural basis of sensory behaviors in the context of human parasitism. We use parasitic nematodes and the free-living nematode C. elegans as models. The goals of our research are to understand how parasitic worms use sensory cues to locate and infect hosts, how sensory circuits of parasitic animals differ from those of free-living animals to enable parasitic behaviors, and how sensory microcircuits generate flexible outputs. Our research addresses fundamental questions of sensory circuit function and evolution. In addition, human-parasitic worms are a major cause of morbidity worldwide, and a better understanding of their behaviors may enable the development of novel strategies for preventing infections.
Awards and Honors
- Searle Scholar Award, 2012.
- MacArthur Fellowship, 2012.
- Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Disease Award, 2015.
- John H. Walsh Young Investigator Research Prize, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 2015.
- Rita Allen Foundation Fellowship, 2011.
- NIH Director's New Innovator Award, NIH, 2014.
- McKnight Scholar Award, 2013.
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2011.
- Faculty Mentor Award, UCLA, 2020.
- HHMI Faculty Scholar Award, 2016.
- Dean's Recognition Award, UCLA, 2013.
Publications
- Atkinson LE, Hallem EA. Editorial - Strongyloides research in the post-genomics era.. Molecular and biochemical parasitology, 2022.
- Wheeler NJ, Hallem EA, Zamanian M. Making sense of sensory behaviors in vector-borne helminths.. Trends in parasitology, 2022.
- Mendez P, Walsh B, Hallem EA. Using newly optimized genetic tools to probe Strongyloides sensory behaviors.. Molecular and biochemical parasitology, 2022.
- Bryant AS, Ruiz F, Lee JH, Hallem EA. The neural basis of heat seeking in a human-infective parasitic worm.. Current biology : CB, 2022.
- Patel R, Hallem EA. Olfaction: One receptor drives opposite behaviors.. Current biology : CB, 2022.
- Castelletto ML, Hallem EA. Generating Transgenics and Knockouts in Strongyloides Species by Microinjection.. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, 2021.
- Chavez IN, Brown TM, Assié A, Bryant AS, Samuel BS, Hallem EA. Skin-penetrating nematodes exhibit life-stage-specific interactions with host-associated and environmental bacteria.. BMC biology, 2021.
- Bryant AS, Hallem EA. The Wild Worm Codon Adapter: a web tool for automated codon adaptation of transgenes for expression in non-Caenorhabditis nematodes.. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), 2021.
- Carstensen HR, Villalon RM, Banerjee N, Hallem EA, Hong RL. Steroid hormone pathways coordinate developmental diapause and olfactory remodeling in Pristionchus pacificus.. Genetics, 2021.
- Bryant AS, DeMarco SF, Hallem EA. Strongyloides RNA-seq Browser: a web-based software platform for on-demand bioinformatics analyses of Strongyloides species.. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), 2021.
- Gang SS, Castelletto ML, Yang E, Ruiz F, Brown TM, Bryant AS, Grant WN, Hallem EA. Chemosensory mechanisms of host seeking and infectivity in skin-penetrating nematodes.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020.
- Castelletto ML, Gang SS, Hallem EA. Recent advances in functional genomics for parasitic nematodes of mammals.. The Journal of experimental biology, 2020.
- Banerjee N, Hallem EA. Decoding Inter-individual Variability in Experience-Dependent Behavioral Plasticity.. Neuron, 2020.
- Banerjee N, Hallem EA. The role of carbon dioxide in nematode behaviour and physiology.. Parasitology, 2019.
- Rengarajan S, Yankura KA, Guillermin ML, Fung W, Hallem EA. Feeding state sculpts a circuit for sensory valence in Caenorhabditis elegans.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019.
- Bryant AS, Hallem EA. Terror in the dirt: Sensory determinants of host seeking in soil-transmitted mammalian-parasitic nematodes.. International journal for parasitology. Drugs and drug resistance, 2018.
- Bryant AS, Hallem EA. Temperature-dependent behaviors of parasitic helminths.. Neuroscience letters, 2018.
- Bryant AS, Ruiz F, Gang SS, Castelletto ML, Lopez JB, Hallem EA. A Critical Role for Thermosensation in Host Seeking by Skin-Penetrating Nematodes.. Current biology : CB, 2018.
- Banerjee N, Hallem E. Sexual Dimorphisms: How Sex-Shared Neurons Generate Sex-Specific Behaviors.. Current biology : CB, 2018.
- Ruiz F, Castelletto ML, Gang SS, Hallem EA. Experience-dependent olfactory behaviors of the parasitic nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus.. PLoS pathogens, 2017.
- Gang SS, Castelletto ML, Bryant AS, Yang E, Mancuso N, Lopez JB, Pellegrini M, Hallem EA. Targeted mutagenesis in a human-parasitic nematode.. PLoS pathogens, 2017.
- Guillermin ML, Carrillo MA, Hallem EA. A Single Set of Interneurons Drives Opposite Behaviors in C. elegans.. Current biology : CB, 2017.
- Cevallos JA, Okubo RP, Perlman SJ, Hallem EA. Olfactory Preferences of the Parasitic Nematode Howardula aoronymphium and its Insect Host Drosophila falleni.. Journal of chemical ecology, 2017.
- Park HB, Sampathkumar P, Perez CE, Lee JH, Tran J, Bonanno JB, Hallem EA, Almo SC, Crawford JM. Stilbene epoxidation and detoxification in a Photorhabdus luminescens-nematode symbiosis.. The Journal of biological chemistry, 2017.
- Rengarajan S, Hallem EA. Olfactory circuits and behaviors of nematodes.. Current opinion in neurobiology, 2016.
- Gang SS, Hallem EA. Mechanisms of host seeking by parasitic nematodes.. Molecular and biochemical parasitology, 2016.
- Lee JH, Dillman AR, Hallem EA. Temperature-dependent changes in the host-seeking behaviors of parasitic nematodes.. BMC biology, 2016.
- Peña JM, Carrillo MA, Hallem EA. Variation in the susceptibility of Drosophila to different entomopathogenic nematodes.. Infection and immunity, 2015.
- Castelletto ML, Gang SS, Okubo RP, Tselikova AA, Nolan TJ, Platzer EG, Lok JB, Hallem EA. Diverse host-seeking behaviors of skin-penetrating nematodes.. PLoS pathogens, 2014.
- Carrillo MA, Guillermin ML, Rengarajan S, Okubo RP, Hallem EA. O2-sensing neurons control CO2 response in C. elegans.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013.
- Chaisson KE, Hallem EA. Chemosensory behaviors of parasites.. Trends in parasitology, 2012.
- Dillman AR, Guillermin ML, Lee JH, Kim B, Sternberg PW, Hallem EA. Olfaction shapes host-parasite interactions in parasitic nematodes.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012.
- Guillermin ML, Castelletto ML, Hallem EA. Differentiation of carbon dioxide-sensing neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans requires the ETS-5 transcription factor.. Genetics, 2011.
- Hallem EA, Dillman AR, Hong AV, Zhang Y, Yano JM, DeMarco SF, Sternberg PW. A sensory code for host seeking in parasitic nematodes.. Current biology : CB, 2011.
- Hallem EA, Spencer WC, McWhirter RD, Zeller G, Henz SR, Rätsch G, Miller DM, Horvitz HR, Sternberg PW, Ringstad N. Receptor-type guanylate cyclase is required for carbon dioxide sensation by Caenorhabditis elegans.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010.
- Hallem EA, Sternberg PW. Acute carbon dioxide avoidance in Caenorhabditis elegans.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008.
- Hallem EA, Rengarajan M, Ciche TA, Sternberg PW. Nematodes, bacteria, and flies: a tripartite model for nematode parasitism.. Current biology : CB, 2007.
- Hallem EA, Carlson JR. Coding of odors by a receptor repertoire.. Cell, 2006.
- Hallem EA, Dahanukar A, Carlson JR. Insect odor and taste receptors.. Annual review of entomology, 2006.
- Dahanukar A, Hallem EA, Carlson JR. Insect chemoreception.. Current opinion in neurobiology, 2005.
- Hallem EA, Carlson JR. The odor coding system of Drosophila.. Trends in genetics : TIG, 2004.
- Hallem EA, Ho MG, Carlson JR. The molecular basis of odor coding in the Drosophila antenna.. Cell, 2004.
- Hallem EA, Carlson JR. The spatial code for odors is changed by conditioning.. Neuron, 2004.
- Hallem EA, Nicole Fox A, Zwiebel LJ, Carlson JR. Olfaction: mosquito receptor for human-sweat odorant.. Nature, 2004.