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LATVIAN

BIOMEDICAL

RESEARCH AND STUDY CENTRE

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN BIOMEDICINE FROM GENES TO HUMAN

Tick-Borne Pathogens Research Group (K.Brangulis lab)

Our research focuses on understanding how Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, survives and causes infection. Although Lyme disease is widespread, many of the molecular mechanisms underlying Borrelia biology remain poorly understood. In particular, the organism possesses an unusually large and diverse set of lipoproteins and envelope-associated proteins, many of which are essential for infection but lack known functions.

We use structural biology and protein biochemistry to reveal how these proteins work and how they interact with each other. By determining high-resolution structures of individual proteins and their complexes, and combining these data with functional and biophysical analyses, we aim to uncover the molecular principles that govern envelope integrity, host adaptation, and virulence in B. burgdorferi.

Our long-term goal is to provide a mechanistic framework for Borrelia biology and to support the development of new strategies to combat Lyme disease.

Kalvis Brangulis, PhD

Kalvis Brangulis, PhD

Head of the research group, senior researcher

Personnel

Kalvis Brangulis, PhD, kalvis@biomed.lu.lv

Dagnija Tupiņa, PhD, dagnija.tupina@biomed.lu.lv

Areas for searching partners

  • Structural and functional studies of the Lyme disease-causing agent proteins
  • Structural and functional studies of proteins associated with other tick-borne pathogens

10 the most representative publications for the scientific group

  1. Bista, S., Brangulis, K., Bhattachan, B., Foor, S. D., Ronzetti, M. H., Jain, S., Miller, J., Subramanion, J. L., Kitsou, C., Rana, V. S., Rai, G., Zakharov, A. V., Simeonov, A., Baljinnyam, B., and Pal, U. (2026) Targeting of interaction between BB0323-BB0238 informs new paradigms in Lyme disease therapeutics, PLoS Pathogens 22, e1013805.
  2. Hajdusek, O., Brangulis, K., Robbertse, L., Ghosh, R., Carlo, D. D., and Perner, J. (2025) Lyme disease control 2.0: Advances and opportunities coming with Lyme disease vaccine VLA15, PLoS Pathog 21, e1013747.
  3. Brangulis, K., J. Malfetano, A. L. Marcinkiewicz, A. Wang, Y. L. Chen, J. Lee, Z. Liu, X. Yang, U. Strych, D. Tupina, I. Akopjana, M. E. Bottazzi, U. Pal, C. L. Hsieh, W. H. Chen & Y. P. Lin, (2025) Mechanistic insights into the structure-based design of a CspZ-targeting Lyme disease vaccine. Nature Communications 16: 2898.
  4. Brangulis, K., V. Surth, A. L. Marcinkiewicz, I. Akopjana, A. Kazaks, J. Bogans, A. Huber, Y. P. Lin & P. Kraiczy, (2025) CspZ variant-specific interaction with factor H incorporates a metal site to support Lyme borreliae complement evasion. J Biol Chem 301: 108083.
  5. Brangulis, K., D. Tupina, E. E. Sinicina, D. Zelencova-Gopejenko, I. Akopjana, J. Bogans & K. Tars, (2025) Divergent dimerization mechanisms and conserved DNA-binding function in PFam12 proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi. Sci Rep 15: 11518.
  6. Norris, S. J., and Brangulis, K. (2024) Meta-analysis of the Vmp-like sequences of Lyme disease Borrelia: evidence for the evolution of an elaborate antigenic variation system, Front Microbiol 15, 1469411.
  7. Brangulis, K., Akopjana, I., Drunka, L., Matisone, S., Zelencova-Gopejenko, D., Bhattacharya, S., Bogans, J., and Tars, K. (2024) Members of the paralogous gene family 12 from the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi are non-specific DNA-binding proteins, PLoS One 19, e0296127.
  8. Brangulis, K., Akopjana, I., Bogans, J., Kazaks, A., and Tars, K. (2024) Structural studies of chromosomally encoded outer surface lipoprotein BB0158 from Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Ticks Tick Borne Dis 15, 102287.
  9. Brangulis, K., Drunka, L., Akopjana, I., and Tars, K. (2024) Structure of the Borrelia burgdorferi ATP-dependent metalloprotease FtsH in its functionally relevant hexameric form, Biochim Biophys Acta Proteins Proteom 1872, 140969.
  10. Foor, S. D., Brangulis, K., Shakya, A. K., Rana, V. S., Bista, S., Kitsou, C., Ronzetti, M., Alreja, A. B., Linden, S. B., Altieri, A. S., Baljinnyam, B., Akopjana, I., Nelson, D. C., Simeonov, A., Herzberg, O., Caimano, M. J., and Pal, U. (2023) A unique borrelial protein facilitates microbial immune evasion, mBio 14, e0213523.