Axl S. Cepeda
In January 2021, I started my Ph.D. under the guidance of Dr. Ananias A. Escalante at Temple University. Research at the Escalante's Lab focuses on the ecology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious diseases. I am interested in establishing bridges among population genetics, ecological, and evolutionary biology perspectives by interpreting genomic patterns from pathogens (mainly in Plasmodium spp.) and integrating them with environmental or epidemiologic information.
Escalante-Pacheco Lab 👨🏼🔬👨🏽💻
Department of Biology, iGEM 📊👩🏻⚕️
Temple University 🏫🇺🇸
U. Nacional de Colombia, GERPH 🎓🇨🇴
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Publications
1. Pacheco, M. A., Miller, E. A., Harl, J., Ferreira, F. C., Cepeda, A. S., Valkiūnas, G., Beckerman, S., Oswald, M., Mateus-Pinilla, N. E., & Escalante, A. A. (2025). Haemoproteus syrnii and other haemosporidians infecting owls from North America. *[Journal in press]*, Published online: August 6, 2025.
2. Pacheco, M. A., Cepeda, A. S., Miller, E. A., Beckerman, S., Oswald, M., London, E., Mateus-Pinilla, N. E., & Escalante, A. A. (2024). A new long-read mitochondrial-genome protocol (PacBio HiFi) for haemosporidian parasites: a tool for population and biodiversity studies. *Malaria Journal*, 23(1), 134.
3. Cepeda, A. S., Mello, B., Pacheco, M. A., Luo, Z., Sullivan, S. A., Carlton, J. M., & Escalante, A. A. (2024). The genome of Plasmodium gonderi: insights into the evolution of human malaria parasites. *Genome Biology and Evolution*, 16(2), evae027.
4. Escalante, A. A., Cepeda, A. S., & Pacheco, M. A. (2022). Why Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum are so different? A tale of two clades and their species diversities. *Malaria Journal*, 21(1), 1–19.
5. Gutiérrez-Liberato, G. A., Lotta-Arévalo, I. A., González, L. P., Vargas-Ramírez, M., Rodríguez-Fandiño, O., Cepeda, A. S., & Matta, N. E. (2021). The genetic and morphological diversity of Haemogregarina infecting turtles in Colombia: Are mitochondrial markers useful as barcodes for these parasites? *Infection, Genetics and Evolution*, 92, 105040.
6. Cepeda, A. S., Pacheco, M. A., Escalante, A. A., Alzate, J. F., & Matta, N. E. (2021). The apicoplast of Haemoproteus columbae: A comparative study of this organelle genome in Haemosporida. *Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution*, 161, 107185.
7. González, L. P., Pacheco, M. A., Escalante, A. A., Maldonado, A. D. J., Cepeda, A. S., Rodríguez-Fandiño, O. A., & Matta, N. E. (2019). Haemocystidium spp., a species complex infecting ancient aquatic turtles of the family Podocnemididae: First report of these parasites in Podocnemis vogli from the Orinoquia. *International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife*, 9, 88–94.
8. Cepeda, A. S., Lotta, I. A., Pinto-Osorio, D. F., Macías-Zacipa, J., Valkiūnas, G., Barato, P., & Matta, N. E. (2019). The experimental characterization of the complete life cycle of Haemoproteus columbae, with description of the natural host-parasite system to study this infection. *International Journal for Parasitology*, 49(6), 407–414.
9. Pacheco, M. A., Cepeda, A. S., Bernotienė, R., Lotta, I. A., Matta, N. E., Valkiūnas, G., & Escalante, A. A. (2018). Primers targeting mitochondrial genes of avian haemosporidia: PCR detection and differential DNA amplification of parasites belonging to different genera. *International Journal for Parasitology*, 48(7), 469–479.
