Yang, StephanieGoodyear, Mara C.Comfort, SydneyAzmin, RaminDechka, JenniferHunter, IanSmith, DerekGoodlett, David R.Lee, Amy H.Grennan, TroyCameron, Caroline E.2026-04-202026-04-202026https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23638Syphilis is a multistage disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum. Differentiating between early and late latent infections is important as individuals diagnosed at each of these stages require different antibiotic treatment regimes; however, current diagnostic tests for syphilis are unable to distinguish between the early latent and late latent stages. In addition to diagnostic challenges, a deeper understanding of host-pathogen interactions is important for the development of more effective intervention strategies. Although in vitro studies have identified host processes disrupted by T. pallidum infection, how these processes change over the course of infection and how they manifest in clinical samples remains poorly understood. My project addresses this gap by using clinical plasma samples from individuals diagnosed at different stages of syphilis infection. Plasma proteomics is then used to characterize proteins and pathways that are differentially expressed across stages of syphilis. An additional objective is to identify potential host biomarkers to distinguish early latent syphilis from late latent syphilis.ensyphilisinfectionplasma proteomicsdisease progressionUVic Genome BC Proteomics CentreJamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)PosterDepartment of Biochemistry and Microbiology