Curriculum Vitae (short version)
- University of Vermont, Ph.D., 2000
- SUNY Potsdam, B.A., 1993
Research InterestsResearch Interests
Dr. Perkins is a microbiologist with three main research foci. The first is the systematic, biogeographic, and molecular evolutionary study of the protozoan parasites that cause malaria, including those that infect non-human hosts. Her second main research focus is the study of symbiotic bacteria that are found in certain groups of blood-feeding leeches. This project involves both morphological and molecular work and will soon enter the realm of genomics, as the hope is to sequence the entire genome of one type of these symbionts. The third research focus is an examination of the patterns of genomics and geography, in relation to pathogenicity, of RNA viruses.
Perkins, S. L. 2014. Malaria's many mates: past, present, and future of the systematics of the order Haemosporida. Journal of Parasitology 100:11-25.
Cottontail VM*, Kalko EKV, Cottontail I, Wellinghausen N, Tschapka M, Perkins SL, Pinto CM*. 2014. High local diversity of Trypanosoma in a common bat species, and implications for the biogeography and taxonomy of the T. cruzi clade. PLoS ONE 9(9): e108603. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108603 *Authors contributed equally.
Schaer, J.*, S. L. Perkins*, J. Decher, F. Leendertz, J. Fahr, N. Weber, and K. Matuschewski. 2013. High diversity of West Africa bat malaria parasites and a tight link with rodent Plasmodium taxa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 110:17415-17419 (*co-first-authors)
Pineda-Catalan, O.*, S. L. Perkins*, M. A. Peirce, R. Engstrand, C. Garcia-Davila, M. Pinedo-Vasquez, and A. A. Aguirre. 2013. Revision of hemoproteid genera and description and redescription of two species of chelonian hemoproteid parasites. Journal of Parasitology 99: 1089-1098. (*co-first-authors)
Martinsen, E. S., and S. L. Perkins. 2013. The diversity of Plasmodium and other haemosporidians: the intersection of taxonomy, phylogenetics, and genomics. In: Carlton, J. M., Deitsch, K., and Perkins, S. L. (Eds.), Comparative Genomics of Malaria Parasites. Horizon Press.
Falk, B. G., and S. L. Perkins. 2013. Host specificity shapes population structure of pinworm parasites in Caribbean reptiles. Molecular Ecology 22:4576-4590.
Pinto, M., K. M. Helgen, R. C. Fleischer, and S. L. Perkins. 2013. Hepatozoon parasites (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) in bats. Journal of Parasitology 99:722-724.
Olival, K. J., C. W. Dick, N. B. Simmons, J. C. Morales, D. J. Melnick, K. Dittmar, S. L. Perkins, P. Daszak, and R. Desalle. 2013. Lack of population genetic structure and host specificity in the bat fly, Cyclopodia horsfieldi, across species of Pteropus bats in Southeast Asia. Parasites and Vectors. 6:231.
Perkins, S. L., E. S. Martinsen, and B. G. Falk. 2011. Do molecules matter more than morphology? Promises and pitfalls in parasites. Parasitology 138:1664-1674.
Falk, B. G., S. L. Perkins, and D. L. Mahler. 2011. Tree-based delimitation of morphologically ambiguous taxa: a survey of the malaria parasites of Hispaniola. International Journal for Parasitology. 41:967-980.
Valkiunas, G., Ashford, R. W., Bensch, S., Killick-Kendrick, R. and S. Perkins. 2011. A cautionary note concerning Plasmodium in apes. Trends in Parasitology. 27:231-232.
Teaching ExperienceTeaching Experience
- Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2001–2004
- Museum Seminar Series, AMNH, 2008-2009
- Seminar in Coevolution, University of Colorado, Academic Year 2003–2004
- Seminar in Eukaryotic Microbial Evolution, University of Colorado, Academic Year 2001–2002
- Bryan Falk, Richard Gilder Graduate School
- Miguel Pinto, CUNY
- Was on 17 dissertation and thesis committees at the University of Colorado
- Elizabeth Borda, CUNY
- Megan Harrison, CUNY