Charissa de Bekker
Charissa de BekkerThe Netherlands

    Charissa de Bekker is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

    Research

    Her research centers around unraveling the mechanisms that underlie parasite manipulation of host behavior, both from the host and the parasite perspective. For millions of years, the ongoing battles between parasites and their hosts (parasite-host co-evolution) have resulted in complex phenotypes. The adaptive manipulation of host behaviour is a widespread example. However, it remains a largely unanswered question how exactly manipulating parasites are able to hijack their hosts: changes in host behavior, the proteins and secondary metabolites involved, and their effect on host physiology, for example, remain open questions.

    Parasites that modify host behaviour to increase their own reproductive success are often referred to as “zombie-makers”. “Zombie ants”, when infected by fungi that hijack behavioural outputs, start to wander, followed by climbing, and latching themselves to vegetation (via biting) to ease the wind dispersal of infectious spores.  To study this phenomenon, she uses an integrative approach that combines multi-omics techniques, molecular microbiology techniques, infection biology, chronobiology, and animal behaviour.

    Grants and awards

    Dr. de Bekker has been granted an NSF CAREER award and an ERC Consolidator grant to conduct her research.

    Selected bibliography

    • Bekker, Charissa de, William C. Beckerson, and Carolyn Elya. 2021. “Mechanisms behind the Madness: How Do Zombie-Making Fungal Entomopathogens Affect Host Behavior to Increase Transmission?” mBio 12 (5): e0187221.
    • Bekker, Charissa de, and Biplabendu Das. 2022. “Hijacking Time: How Ophiocordyceps Fungi Could Be Using Ant Host Clocks to Manipulate Behavior.” Parasite Immunology 44 (3): e12909.
    • Will, Ian, Biplabendu Das, Thienthanh Trinh, Andreas Brachmann, Robin A. Ohm, and Charissa de Bekker. 2020. “Genetic Underpinnings of Host Manipulation by Ophiocordyceps as Revealed by Comparative Transcriptomics.” G3 (Bethesda, Md.) 10 (7): 2275–96.
    • Will, I., G. M. Attardo, and C. de Bekker. 2023. “Multiomic Interpretation of Fungus-Infected Ant Metabolomes during Manipulated Summit Disease.” Scientific Reports 13 (1): 14363.
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