**About the Editors**

#### **Estrella Montero**

Estrella Montero is currently Head of Laboratory at the Parasitology Reference and Research Department of the National Centre for Microbiology, Spain. She received her PhD in Biological Sciences from the Complutense University, Madrid, Spain, in 2003. During this period, she worked on the molecular biology of helminthiasis under the direction of Drs. Teresa Garate and Luis Miguel ´ Gonzalez. Subsequently, she did her postdoc at Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) at New ´ York Blood Center where she commenced the study of the erythrocyte invasion process of *Babesia divergens* under the direction of Dr. Cheryl Ann Lobo.

The laboratory of Estrella Montero studies basic aspects of the asexual life cycle of *B. divergens* by the means of modern microscopic tools, integrative omics approaches and molecular biology. She also works on developing diagnostic tools to detect *Babesia* and other piroplasms in humans, domestic and wild animals and ticks. She is currently collaborating on *Babesia* and human babesiosis transmission with Drs. Luis Miguel Gonzalez and Cheryl Ann Lobo and Professor Jeremy Gray. ´

#### **Jeremy Gray**

Jeremy Gray obtained his PhD in Animal Parasitology from the University of London in 1972 and shortly afterwards took up a lecturing post in University College Dublin, remaining there to teach animal parasitology for more than 30 years, focusing initially on infections of farm animals, and latterly on zoonoses. His research on the tick *Ixodes ricinus* and the pathogens that it transmits (especially *Babesia divergens* and *Borrelia burgdorferi*) commenced soon after his arrival in Ireland. He left the university in 2008, but as an Emeritus Professor and Associate Editor for the journal *Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases* has been able to maintain fruitful working relationships with colleagues at UCD and in many other parts of the world.

#### **Cheryl Ann Lobo**

Dr. Cheryl Ann Lobo is a full Member of Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) at New York Blood Center and Head of Laboratory of Blood Borne Parasites. She has a long history in molecular parasitology for over 30 years, focusing on parasites that can be transmitted by transfusion - malaria and babesiosis - emerging infectious diseases that are transfusion threats. Her laboratory studies the biology underlying the mechanisms of invasion, intracellular development, multiplication and egress in these intra-erythrocytic parasites, using in vitro culture systems and rodent models of disease, with the eventual goal of developing viable interventions to detect and halt transfusion-transmission of these pathogens.

#### **Luis Miguel Gonz ´alez**

Luis Miguel Gonzalez is currently Head of laboratory at the at the Parasitology Reference ´ and Research Department of the National Center for Microbiology, Spain. He received his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, in 1993. He has a long experience in developing molecular and serologic tools for the detection of helminthiases and tick borne diseases that affect humans, domestic and wild animals. His laboratory also studies basic aspects of the asexual life cycle of *Babesia divergens* by the means of modern microscopic tools, integrative omics approaches and molecular biology in collaboration with Dr. Estrella Montero.
