Mohamed Moustafa
Assistant Professor of Infectious Disease
B.VSc, M.V.Sc, PhD
Office: 336 Coles Hall
Phone: 785-532-4612
Email
Education
- Ph.D., Wildlife Biology and Medicine (2016), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan
- M.V.Sc., Animal Medicine (2011), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Egypt
- B.V.Sc., Veterinary Medicine (2005), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Egyp
Biography
- Dr. Mohamed Moustafa joined the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University in 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases.
- His research integrates molecular biology, microbiome science, wildlife ecology, and epidemiology to better understand tick-borne diseases and their impact on human and animal health.
- Graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, SVU in Egypt, Dr. Moustafa earned his Ph.D. at Hokkaido University in Japan, focusing on the ecology of vector-borne diseases in wildlife.
- He pursued postdoctoral training at Hokkaido University, Rutgers–New Jersey Medical School, and Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, before joining Kansas State University.
Research
- Vector-borne infections represent a major and growing concern for public health, the cattle industry, and wildlife health worldwide. They threaten livestock productivity, contribute to the spread of zoonotic diseases in rural and urban communities, and disrupt ecosystems by altering host–pathogen dynamics in wildlife. To confront these challenges, Moustafa lab combines fieldwork with molecular biology, microbiology, ecology, multi-omics technologies, and bioinformatics to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that drive pathogen persistence and disease emergence. His team focuses on the ecology, evolution, and pathogenesis of tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) and other vector-borne diseases, with a central focus on host-vector-microbiome interactions and the development of innovative anti-tick vaccines.
- Using metagenomics and functional profiling, his lab investigates how microbial communities in ticks and small mammals influence pathogen transmission and host susceptibility. His research team also explore tick-associated microbial genomes for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) to identify novel antimicrobial molecules and to reveal how symbionts support tick survival and pathogen transmissibility. In parallel, they study the epidemiology of TBPs in wild rodent populations through longitudinal fieldwork, including nesting box surveys and Capture-Tag-Release-Recapture approaches, to monitor pathogen persistence and transmission dynamics in natural ecosystems.
- Moustafa lab is especially interested in how infections reshape the mammalian gut microbiome. For example, studies in mice to examine how single and co-infections with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti alter gut microbial communities, potentially influencing disease outcomes. This can open possibilities for microbiome-based interventions that may mitigate infection severity. Finally, his lab addresses the growing threat of invasive ticks such as the Asian longhorned tick, whose expanding range poses risks to cattle, wildlife, and human health. He is also developing RNA interference (RNAi)-based anti-tick vaccines as innovative tools to reduce vector competence and slow the spread of ticks and the pathogens they carry.