Skip to main content

You are here

Yi-Pin Lin, Ph.D.

Yi-Pin Lin, Ph.D.

Zoonotic Diseases
Ph.D., Cornell University
Postdoctoral training: Tufts University School of Medicine
Office: 518-402-2233; Lab: 518-473-2789

Research Interests

Lyme disease, transmitted by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S. The bacteria can infect at the site of the tick bite and then survive in the bloodstream and spread to the heart, joints, or brain, resulting arthritis, neurological abnormalities, and carditis. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximate 30,000 people are infected annually, and most of them are in the Mid-west and Northeast states including New York State.

The research in my laboratory investigates the mechanisms of pathogen-host interactions. We are particularly interested in how the Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, survive in two distinct host environments (ticks and vertebrate hosts) by escaping from the killing of the complement system to cause transmission between hosts, dissemination, and diseases. Our goal is to identify and analyze the complement- or complement regulator-binding factors of B. burgdorferi, which facilitate the immune evasion, tissue colonization, and bloodstream survival in different hosts. The approach is to use genome-wide screens such as Transposon-sequencing technology (Tn-seq) to identify these factors and then test their contributions to the disease by using biochemical and genetic techniques and murine models. These factors could be targets to block the bacterial transmission between hosts. Illumination of the mechanisms employed by B. burgdorferi to interact with hosts will promote the development of prophylactic and therapeutic approaches to improve human health.

Select Publications

Marcinkiewicz AL, Brangulis K, Dupuis AP 2nd, Hart TM, Zamba-Campero M, Nowak TA, Stout JL, Akopjana I, Kazaks A, Bogans J, Ciota AT, Kraiczy P, Kolokotronis SO, Lin YP.
Structural evolution of an immune evasion determinant shapes pathogen host tropism.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
(2023)
120
(27):
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301549120
Nowak TA, Lown LA, Marcinkiewicz AL, Sürth V, Kraiczy P, Burke R, Lin YP.
Outer surface protein E (OspE) mediates Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto strain-specific complement evasion in the eastern fence lizard, Sceloporus undulatus.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis.
(2023)
14
(1):
DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.102081
Combs M, Marcinkiewicz AL, Dupuis AP 2nd, Davis AD, Lederman P, Nowak TA, Stout JL, Strle K, Fingerle V, Margos G, Ciota AT, Diuk-Wasser MA, Kolokotronis SO, Lin YP.
Phylogenomic Diversity Elucidates Mechanistic Insights into Lyme Borreliae-Host Association.
mSystems.
(2022)
7
(4):
DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00488-22
Lin YP, Tufts DM, Combs M, Dupuis AP 2nd, Marcinkiewicz AL, Hirsbrunner AD, Diaz AJ, Stout JL, Blom AM, Strle K, Davis AD, Kramer LD, Kolokotronis SO, Diuk-Wasser MA.
Cellular and immunological mechanisms influence host-adapted phenotypes in a vector-borne microparasite.
Proc Biol Sci.
(2022)
289
(1969):
DOI: 0.1098/rspb.2021.2087
Chen YL, Marcinkiewicz AL, Nowak TA, Tyagi Kundu R, Liu Z, Strych U, Bottazzi ME, Chen WH, Lin YP.
CspZ FH-Binding Sites as Epitopes Promote Antibody-Mediated Lyme Borreliae Clearance.
Infect Immun.
(2022)
90
(7):
DOI: 10.1128/iai.00062-22
Hart TM, Dupuis AP 2nd, Tufts DM, Blom AM, Starkey SR, Rego ROM, Ram S, Kraiczy P, Kramer LD, Diuk-Wasser MA, Kolokotronis SO, Lin YP.
Host tropism determination by convergent evolution of immunological evasion in the Lyme disease system.
PLoS Pathog.
(2021)
17
(7):
DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009801
Lin YP, Diuk-Wasser MA, Stevenson B, Kraiczy P.
Complement Evasion Contributes to Lyme Borreliae-Host Associations.
Trends Parasitol.
(2020)
36
(7):
634-635.
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.04.011.