Skip to main content
Give
Edit Icon - Click to update your profileUpdate Your Profile

Franck A. Dumetz, PhD

Academic Title:

Research Associate

Primary Appointment:

Microbiology and Immunology

Email:

fdumetz@som.umaryland.edu

Location:

670 W Baltimore St

Phone (Primary):

(410) 706-0778

Download CV

Education and Training

2018  Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences University of Antwerp - Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

2012  M.Sc in Molecular and Cellular Biology, specialty Medical Parasitology and Mycology Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, Paris, France

2010  B.Sc Biology, specialty Biotechnology Institut Libre des Sciences et Technologies, Institut Catholique de Lille, Lille, France

Biosketch

I organized my PhD work around the discoveries made in two studies on the genome diversity of Leishmania donovani in the Indian subcontinent and the impact of that diversity on the metabolome

  1. Imamura H, Downing T, Van den Broeck F, Sanders MJ, Rijal S, Sundar S, Mannaert A, Vanaerschot M, Berg M, De Muylder G, Dumetz F, Cuypers B, Maes I, Domagalska M, Decuypere S, Rai K, Uranw S, Bhattarai NR, Khanal B, Prajapati VK, Sharma S, Stark O, Schönian G, De Koning HP, Settimo L, Vanhollebeke B, Roy S, Ostyn B, Boelaert M, Maes L, Berriman M, Dujardin JC, Cotton JA. Evolutionary genomics of epidemic visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian subcontinent. Elife. 2016 Mar 22;5. PMC4811772.
  2. Cuypers B, Berg M, Imamura H, Dumetz F, De Muylder G, Domagalska MA, Rijal S, Bhattarai NR, Maes I, Sanders M, Cotton JA, Meysman P, Laukens K, Dujardin JC. Integrated genomic and metabolomic profiling of ISC1, an emerging Leishmania donovani population in the Indian subcontinent. Infect Genet Evol. 2018 Aug;62:170-178.  PMC6261844.

The core of my PhD work relied on studying changes in genome plasticity of donovani facing environmental changes like during the transmission between a mammalian host to the insect host, drug pressure, or culture.

  1. Dumetz F, Imamura H, Sanders M, Seblova V, Myskova J, Pescher P, Vanaerschot M, Meehan CJ, Cuypers B, De Muylder G, Späth GF, Bussotti G, Vermeesch JR, Berriman M, Cotton JA, Volf P, Dujardin JC, Domagalska MA. Modulation of Aneuploidy in Leishmania donovani during Adaptation to Different In Vitro and In Vivo Environments and Its Impact on Gene Expression. mBio. 2017 May 23;8(3). PMC5442457.
  2. Prieto Barja P, Pescher P, Bussotti G, Dumetz F, Imamura H, Kedra D, Domagalska M, Chaumeau V, Himmelbauer H, Pages M, Sterkers Y, Dujardin JC, Notredame C, Späth GF. Haplotype selection as an adaptive mechanism in the protozoan pathogen Leishmania donovani. Nat Ecol Evol. 2017 Dec;1(12):1961-1969.
  3. Bussotti G, Gouzelou E, Côrtes Boité M, Kherachi I, Harrat Z, Eddaikra N, Mottram JC, Antoniou M, Christodoulou V, Bali A, Guerfali FZ, Laouini D, Mukhtar M, Dumetz F, Dujardin JC, Smirlis D, Lechat P, Pescher P, El Hamouchi A, Lemrani M, Chicharro C, Llanes-Acevedo IP, Botana L, Cruz I, Moreno J, Jeddi F, Aoun K, Bouratbine A, Cupolillo E, Späth GF. Leishmania Genome Dynamics during Environmental Adaptation Reveal Strain-Specific Differences in Gene Copy Number Variation, Karyotype Instability, and Telomeric Amplification. mBio. 2018 Nov 6;9(6). PMC6222132.
  4. Dumetz F, Cuypers B, Imamura H, Zander D, D’Haenens E, Maes I, Domagalska MA, Clos J, Dujardin J-C and De Muylder G. Molecular pre-adaptation to antimony resistance in Leishmania donovani of the Indian sub-continent. mSphere, 2017; 3(2): e00548-17. PMC5907651

During my doctoral studies studying the importance of DNA in the life of Leishmania, I developed an even stronger intellectual appetite for RNA and started to think that RNA was the essential player when it comes to parasite biology (and even more in the case of Leishmania). Therefore, I started my postdoctoral training with the ambition to acquire new knowledge and techniques to study RNA structures

  1. Dumetz F, Merrick CJ. Parasitic Protozoa: Unusual Roles for G-Quadruplexes in Early-Diverging Eukaryotes. Molecules. 2019 Apr 5;24(7). PMCID: PMC6480360.
  2. Dumetz F, Chow EY, Harris LM, Liew SW, Jensen A, Umar MI, Chung B, Chan TF, Merrick CJ, Kwok CK. G-quadruplex RNA motifs influence gene expression in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Nucleic Acids Res. 2021;49(21):12486-501. PMCID: PMC8643661.
  3. Dumetz F, Enright AJ, Zhao J, Kwok CK, Merrick CJ. The in vivo RNA structurome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan with an A/U-rich transcriptome. PLoS One. 2022;17(9):e0270863. PMCID: PMC9436142

Research/Clinical Keywords

Parasites, RNA biology (structure and base modifications), sequencing, OneHealth

Highlighted Publications

  1. Dumetz F*, Chow EY-C*, Harris LM, Umar MI, Jensen A, Chung B, Chan TF, Merrick CJ and Kwok CK. G-quadruplex RNA motifs influence gene expression in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Nucleic Acids Research, 2021; 49(21), 12486-12501
  2. Dumetz F, Imamura H, Sanders M, Seblova V, Myskova J, Pescher P, Cuypers B, De Muylder G, Späth GF, Bussotti G, Vermeesch JR, Berriman M, Cotton JA, Volf P, Dujardin JC, Domagalska MA. Modulation of aneuploidy in Leishmania donovani during adaptation to different in vitro and in vivo environments and its impact on gene expression. MBio, 2017; 8(3): e00599-17.
  3. Dumetz F, Cuypers B, Imamura H, Zander D, D’Haenens E, Maes I, Domagalska MA, Clos J, Dujardin J-C and De Muylder G. Molecular pre-adaptation to antimony resistance in Leishmania donovani of the Indian sub-continent. mSphere, 2017; 3(2): e00548-17.
  4. Dumetz F and Merrick CJ. Parasitic protozoa: Unusual roles for G-quadruplexes in early-diverging eukaryotes. Molecules, 2019; 24(7):1339.

Additional Publication Citations

  1. Dumetz F*, Enright AJ*, Zhao J, Kwok CK, Merrick CJ. The in vivo RNA structurome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan with an A/U-rich transcriptome. PLoS ONE, 2022, 17(9): e0270863.
  2. Wijnant G-J, Dumetz F, Dirkx L, Bulté D, Cuypers B, Van Bocxlaer K and Hendrickx S. Tackling drug resistance and other causes of treatment failure in leishmaniasis. Frontiers in Tropical Diseases/ Insight in Antimicrobial Resistance, 12 May 2022, 3.
  3. Cuypers B*, Dumetz F*, Meysman F, Laukens K, De Muylder G, Dujardin JC, Domagalska MA. The absence of C-5 DNA methylation in Leishmania donovani allows DNA enrichment from complex samples. Microorganisms, 2020; 8(8),1252.
  4. Bussotti G, Evi Gouzelou E, Côrtes Boité M, Kherachi I, Harrat Z, Eddaikra N, Mottram J, C, Antoniou M, Christodoulou V, Bali A , Guerfali F,Z , Laouini D, Mukhtar M, Dumetz F, Dujardin JC, Smirlis D, Lechat P, Pescher P, El Hamouchi A, Lemrani M, Chicharro C, Llanes-Acevedo IP, Botana L, Cruz I, Moreno J, Jeddi F, Aoun K, Bouratbine A, Cupolillo E, and Späth G, F. Leishmania genome dynamics during environmental adaptation reveals strain-specific differences in gene copy number variation, karyotype instability, and telomeric amplification. mBio, 2018; 9(6), 1–18.
  5. Cuypers B, Berg M, Imamura H, Dumetz F, de Muylder G, Domagalska MA, Rijal S, Bhattarai N, Maes I, Cotton J, Meysman P, Laukens K and Jean-Claude Dujardin J-C Integrated genomic and metabolomic profiling of ISC1, an emerging donovani population in the Indian sub-continent. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 2018; 62: 170-178.
  6. Vanaerschot M, Dumetz F, Jara M, Dujardin J-C, Ponte-Sucre A: The concept of fitness in Leishmania, Drug Resistance in Leishmania Parasites – 2nd edition, Edited by Ponte-Sucre A, Publisher: Springer, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-319-74185-7
  7. Prieto-Barja P, Pescher P, Bussotti G, Dumetz F, Imamura H, Kedra D, Domagalska MA, Chaumeau V, Himmelbauer H, Pages M, Sterkers Y, Dujardin JC, Notredame C and Spaeth GF. Asexual maintenance of genetic diversity in the protozoan pathogen Leishmania donovani. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2017; 1(12):1961-1969.
  8. Cuypers B, Domagalska MA, Meysman P, de Muylder G, Vanaerschot M, Imamura H, Dumetz F, Verdonckt TW, Myler PJ, Ramasamy G, Laukens K, and Dujardin J-C. Multiplexed Spliced-Leader Sequencing: A high-throughput, selective method for RNA-seq in Trypanosomatids. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7: 3725.
  9. Kauffmann F, Dumetz F, Hendrickx S, Muraille E, Dujardin J-C, Maes L, Magez S and De Trez C. In vivo characterization of two additional Leishmania donovani strains using the murine and hamster model. Parasite Immunology, 2016, 38(5):290-302.
  10. Imamura H, Downing T, Van den Broeck F, Sanders MJ, Rijal S, Sundar S, Mannaert A, Vanaerschot M, Berg M, De Muylder G, Dumetz F, Cuypers B, Maes I, Domagalska M, Decuypere S, Rai K, Uranw S, Raj Bhattarai N, Khanal B, Kumar Prajapati V, Sharma S, Stark O, Schönian G, De Koning HP, Settimo L, Vanhollebeke B, Syamal Roy, Ostyn B, Boelaert M, Maes L, Berriman M, Dujardin J-C and Cotton JA. Evolutionary genomics of epidemic visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian subcontinent. eLife, 2016, 5:
  11. Vanaerschot M, Dumetz F, Roy S, Ponte-Sucre A, Arevalo J, Dujardin J-C. Treatment failure in leishmaniasis: drug-resistance or another (epi-) phenotype? Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy, 2014 12(8):937-946.

Research Interests

“Ad Veritatem per Scientiam” is my motto. My interest is into One Health, basically bringing the environment, veterinary health and human health together to foster human health. As example of that, I work on a parasite of bumble bees. This parasite, Crithidia bombi is probably involved in the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which is impacts dramatically the agricultural world cause pollinators population is down. Understanding those parasites and their role in CCD would help limit the collapse of pollinators population, increasing agriculture output therefore providing optimal nutrients to humans to foster their health. 

I aim to make research more accessible to the public and also sometimes to the academic community. In 2025, I started curating an open-access database of spliced-leader sequences. The database is freely accessible on figshare at SLtable. If your favorite organism has a spliced-leader that has been published, and it is missing on the table, email me and I will add it.

Awards and Affiliations

2020 Cambridge university award Professional Services Recognition Scheme 2020 in the Cross University category

2018 Year Laureate of the Natural Science of the Belgian Royal Academy for Over Sea Science

2017 Zoetis Travel Award 

Community Service

2025                       Several talks at BUGSS (Science Slam, Course on ONT sequencing)

2022 - present      Member of the Membership committee of ASTMH

2021 - 2022           STAR-PREP statement review committee (University of Maryland, Baltimore)

2020                       Volunteer at the University of Cambridge/GSK/AstraZeneca Covid19 diagnostic center

2019 - present       Reviewer for several scientific journal and member of the Pathogens reviewer board

Professional Activity

2025 - present       Member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee of Sanaria Inc

2024 - present       Teaching "RNA processing" at University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine

2023 - present       Teaching "Introduction to Parasitology" at University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Dentistry

Edit Icon - Click to update your profileUpdate Your Profile