Identifying Giardia lamblia’s stages using Raman microscopy

POSTER

Abstract

Giardiasis is a global parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Giardia. This parasite has two extreme life stages, trophozoites and cysts. Current detection methods primarily rely on morphological and confocal fluorescence techniques, which lack molecular specificity. In this study, we use label-free Raman microscopy to identify stage-specific molecular signatures in Giardia trophozoites and cysts. Our results reveal notable spectroscopic differences, including important components of the cyst wall such as N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). Other observed changes are in heme-protein oxidation states and lipid-protein metabolism during encystation. Complementary confocal fluorescence microscopy results corroborate the Raman outcomes. These findings show that Raman microscopy can effectively distinguish between different life cycle stages of Giardia based on their molecular makeup, providing a strong complement to traditional methods used in biological investigations.

*This research was supported by the NIH/NIMHD U54MD007592 award and a research agreement between the University of Texas at El Paso and the Mayo Clinic.

Publication: F.S. Manciu*, B.C. Pence, B.A. Ibechenjo, M. Manciu, S. Bhattarai, S. Das. Identifying Molecular Changes in Giardia lamblia Stages Using Hyperspectral Raman Microscopy. Diagnostics, 15(17):2161 DOI:10.3390/diagnostics15172161 (2025).

Presenters

  • Blessing A Ibechenjo

    • University of Texas at El Paso

Authors

  • Blessing A Ibechenjo

    • University of Texas at El Paso

  • Sudhir Bhattarai

    • Department of Physics, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA
    • University of Texas at El Paso

  • Marian Manciu

    • Department of Physics, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA
    • Physics Department, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA
    • University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Physics and Border Biomedical Research Center, El Paso, TX 79968, USA

  • Siddhartha Das

    • Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA

  • Breanna Pence

    • Department of Biological Sciences,University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA

  • Felicia S Manciu

    • Department of Physics, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
    • Physics Department, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA
    • University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Physics and Border Biomedical Research Center, El Paso, TX 79968, USA