Anita Villacís, PhD.      

 AGVILLACIS@puce.edu.ec    

Research groups: Infectious and Tropical Diseases (group leader)

Healthy Living Initiative

OneHealth

---

Areas of research: Entomology / Healthy environments and lifestyles / Digital health / One Health.

  

  Current research: 

• Applied science in the prevention and control of Chagas disease
• Studies of Biology, ecology, antennal phenotype, morphometry and genetic diversity of Triatomines
• Microbiota studies in Triatomines
• Studies of climate change in Aedes aegypti
• Study of arbovirosis and Triatoma virus (TrV)

 

  Education:

• 2019. PhD. in Biological Sciences. Ohio University, OH, USA.
• 2016. Master in Infectious Disease Biology. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
• 2015. Magíster en Nuevas Tecnologías en Gestión y Práctica Docente. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
• 2014. Doctor in Biological Sciences. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
• 2006. Bachelor in Biology. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. 
• 2004. Licenciatura en Ciencias de la Educación / Especialidad Biología. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

 

  Current position: 

• Principal Investigator at the Center for Research on Health in Latin America. 
• Professor at the School of Biological Sciences. College of Exact and Natural Sciences. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

  

  Recent publications: 

 

• Hernández, M. L., Dujardin, J. P., Villacís, A. G., Yumiseva, C. A., Remón, C., & Mougabure-Cueto, G. (2023). Resistance to deltamethrin in Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): does it influence the phenotype of antennae, wings, and heads?. Acta Tropica, 106976.
• Depickère, S., Villacís, A.G., Santillán-Guayasamín, S. et al. (2022). Rhodnius (Stål, 1859) (Hemiptera, Triatominae) genus in Bolivian Amazonia: a risk for human populations?. Parasites Vectors 15, 307. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-022-05423-3

• Mario J Grijalva, Ana L Moncayo, Cesar A Yumiseva, Sofia Ocaña-Mayorga, Esteban G Baus, Anita G Villacís. (2022). Evaluation of Selective Deltamethrin Application with Household and Community Awareness for the Control of Chagas Disease in Southern Ecuador. Journal of Medical Entomology, tjac050, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjac050

• Pita, S., Gómez-Palacio, A., Lorite, P., Dujardin, J. P., Chavez, T., Villacís, A. G., Galvão, C., Panzera, Y., Calleros, L., Pereyra-Mello, S., Burgueño-Rodríguez, G., & Panzera, F. (2022). Multidisciplinary approach detects speciation within the kissing bug Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus populations (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Reduviidae). Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 116, e210259. https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-02760210259

• Hernandez-Castro, L.E., Villacís, A.G., Jacobs, A., Cheaib, B., Day, C.C., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Yumiseva, C.A., Bacigalupo, A., Andersson, B., Matthews, L., Landguth, E.L., Costales, J.A., Llewellyn, M.S., Grijalva, M.J. (2022) Population genomics and geographic dispersal in Chagas disease vectors: Landscape drivers and evidence of possible adaptation to the domestic setting. PLOS Genetics 18(2): e1010019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010019

• Ocana-Mayorga, S., Bustillos, J., Villacís, A., Moncayo, A., Yumiseva, C., Brenière, S., & Grijalva, M. (2021). Human Blood Meals in Sylvatic Triatomines Challenges Domestic-Centered Strategies for Prevention of Trypanosoma cruzi Transmission in Ecuador. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, tpmd201312. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-1312

• Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Bustillos, J.J., Villacís A.G., Pinto, C.M., Brenière, S.F., Grijalva, M.J. (2021). Triatomine Feeding Profiles and Trypanosoma cruzi Infection, Implications in Domestic and Sylvatic Transmission Cycles in Ecuador. Pathogens. 10(1):42. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10010042

• Mantilla, D., Rodríguez, F., Villacís, A. G. (2020). Design and development of an Educational videogame through an Agile Methodology, as a tool for children from 7 to 11 years for the prevention of Chagas Disease. RISTI - Revista Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao 33: 338–350.

• Santillán-Guayasamín, S., Barnabé, C., Magallón-Gastelum, E., Waleckx, E., Yumiseva, C. A., Grijalva, M. J., Villacís, A.G., Brenière, S. F. (2020). Molecular data supports monophyly of Triatoma dispar complex within genus Triatoma. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 85, 104429. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104429

• Villacís, A. G., Bustillos, J. J., Depickère, S., Sánchez, D., Yumiseva, C. A., Troya-Zuleta, A., Barnabé, C., Grijalva, M.J. & Brenière, S. F. (2020). Would tropical climatic variations impact the genetic variability of triatomines: Rhodnius ecuadoriensis, principal vector of Chagas disease in Ecuador? Acta Tropica, 209, 105530. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105530

• Villacís, A.G., Dujardin, J., Panzera, F. Yumiseva, C.A., Pita, S., Santillán-Guayasamín, S., Orozco, M.I., Mosquera, K.D. & Grijalva, M.J. (2020). Chagas vectors Panstrongylus chinai (Del Ponte, 1929) and Panstrongylus howardi (Neiva, 1911): chromatic forms or true species?. Parasites Vectors 13(1), 226. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04097-z

• Bates, B.R., Villacís, A.G., Mendez-Trivino, A., Mendoza, L.E., Grijalva, M.J. (2020). Determinants of intentions to prevent triatomine infestation based on the health belief model: An application in rural southern Ecuador. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 14(1): e0007987. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007987

• Barnabé, C., Grijalva, M. J., Santillán-Guayasamín S., Yumiseva, C. A., Waleckx, E., Brenière, F. S., Villacís, A.G. (2020). Genetic data support speciation between Panstrongylus howardi and Panstrongylus chinai, vectors of Chagas disease in Ecuador. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 104103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2019.104103

• Padilla, N.A., Moncayo, A.L., Keil, C.B., Grijalva, M.J., Villacís, A. G. (2019). Life Cycle, Feeding, and Defecation Patterns of Triatoma carrioni (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), Under Laboratory Conditions, Journal of Medical Entomology 56(3): 617–624. https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjz004

• Santillán-Guayasamín, S., Villacís, A. G., Grijalva, M. J., & Dujardin, J. P. (2018). Triatominae: does the shape change of non-viable eggs compromise species recognition?. Parasites & vectors 11(1), 543

• Dujardin, J.P., Dujardin, S., Kaba, D., Santillán-Guayasamín, S., Villacís, A.G., Piyaselakul, S., Sumruayphol, S., Samung, Y., Morales, R. (2017). The maximum likelihood identification method applied to insect morphometric data. Zoological Systematics 42(1), 46-58. DOI: 10.11865/zs.201704

• Grijalva, M.J., Villacís, A.G., Moncayo, A.L., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Yumiseva, C.A., Baus, E.G. (2017). Distribution of triatomine species in domestic and peridomestic environments in central coastal Ecuador. PLoS neglected tropical diseases 11(10), e0005970

• Hernandez-Castro, L.E., Paterno, M., Villacís, A.G., Andersson, B., Costales, J.A., De Noia, M., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Yumiseva, C.A., Grijalva, M. J., Llewellyn, M.S. (2017). 2b-RAD genotyping for population genomic studies of Chagas disease vectors: Rhodnius ecuadoriensis in Ecuador. PLoS neglected tropical diseases 11(7), e0005710

• Santillán-Guayasamín, S., Villacís, A.G., Grijalva, M.J., Dujardin, J.P. (2017). The modern morphometric approach to identify eggs of Triatominae. Parasites & vectors 10(1), 55

• Villacís, A.G., Marcet, P.L., Yumiseva, C.A., Dotson, E.M., Tibayrenc, M., Brenière, S.F., Grijalva, M.J. (2017). Pioneer study of population genetics of Rhodnius ecuadoriensis (hemiptera: Reduviidae) from the central coast and southern Andean regions of Ecuador. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 53, 116-127

 

Libros

• Anita G. Villacís, Fabián E. Sáenz, Marco V. Neira, Mario J. Grijalva. 2018. Ecosalud en las enfermedades transmitidas por vectores: Chagas, Dengue y Malaria. Tercer tomo (Ciencia de la Salud). La Medicina Ecuatoriana en el siglo XXI. Academia Ecuatoriana de Medicina Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Corporación Editora Nacional, editor Jaime Breilh.

• S.F. Brenière, A. Villacís and C. Aznar. 2017. Chapter 22: Vector transmission: how it works, what transmits, where it occurs. American Trypanosomiasis Chagas Disease 2nd Edition, One Hundred Years of Research. ELSEVIER.

  ReseachGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anita_Villacis