Sofía Ocaña-Mayorga, PhD.

SBOCANA@puce.edu.ec

Research group: OneHealth (group leader)

Healthy Living Initiative

Infectious and tropical diseases

Areas of research: Parasitology / Infectious, immunological and chronic diseases / Healthy environments and lifestyles / OneHealth

    Current research:

• Dynamics of infectious disease transmission
• Parasite-host interactions in the transmission of Chagas disease
• Diversity and identification of resistance to insecticides in malaria vectors
• Pathogens in areas of interaction of wild and domestic animals

  Education:

• 2019. PhD. in Biological Sciences. Ohio University, OH, USA.
• 2016. Master in Infectious Disease Biology. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
• 2011. Doctor in Biological Sciences. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. 
• 2005. Bachelor in Biology. 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: 

• Grijalva, M.J.; Villacís, A.G.; Ocaña-Mayorga, S.; Yumiseva, C.A.; Nieto-Sanchez, C.; Baus, E.G. and Moncayo, A.L. (2022).Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Chemical Control for Chagas Disease Vectors in Loja Province, Ecuador. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. Ahead of print http://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2021.0089

• 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

• 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

• Talavera-López, C., Messenger, L.A., Lewis, M.D., Yeo, M., Reis-Cunha, J.L., Matos, G.M., Bartholomeu, D.C., Calzada, J.E., Saldaña, A,, Ramírez, J.D., Guhl, F., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Costales, J.A., Gorchakov, R., Jones, K., Nolan, M.S, Teixeira, S.M.R., Carrasco, H.J., Bottazzi, M.E., Hotez, P.J., Murray, K.O., Grijalva, M.J., Burleigh, B., Grisard, E.C., Miles, M.A. and Andersson, B. (2021). Repeat-Driven Generation of Antigenic Diversity in a Major Human Pathogen, Trypanosoma cruzi. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 11(77):614665. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.614665

• 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

• Schwabl, P., Maiguashca Sánchez, J., Costales, J. A., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Segovia, M., Carrasco, H. J., . . . Llewellyn, M. S. (2020). Culture-free genome-wide locus sequence typing (GLST) provides new perspectives on Trypanosoma cruzi dispersal and infection complexity. PLOS Genetics, 16(12), e1009170. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1009170

• Martin, J. A., Hendershot, A. L., Saá Portilla, I. A., English, D. J., Woodruff, M., Vera-Arias, C. A.,  Salazar-Costa, B.E., Bustillos, J.J., Saénz, F.E., Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Koepfli, C. & Lobo, N. F. (2020). Anopheline and human drivers of malaria risk in northern coastal, Ecuador: a pilot study. Malaria Journal 19(1), 354. doi:10.1186/s12936-020-03426-y

• Ocaña-Mayorga, S., Lobos, S. E., Crespo-Pérez, V., Villacís, A. G., Pinto, C. M., & Grijalva, M. J. (2018). Influence of ecological factors on the presence of a triatomine species associated with the arboreal habitat of a host of Trypanosoma cruzi. Parasites & vectors 11(1), 567

• Schwabl, P., Llewellyn, M. S., Landguth, E. L., Andersson, B., Kitron, U., Costales, J. A., et al. (2017). Prediction and prevention of parasitic diseases using a landscape genomics framework. Trends in parasitology 33(4), 264-275

• 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. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005970

• 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

  Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3861-9784 

ReseachGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sofia_Ocana-Mayorga