
Education & Affiliations
Biography
Eric Dumonteil's primary research interest is in the development of new control tools for Chagas disease and other neglected tropical diseases. These include interdisciplinary research on vector ecology and vector control interventions, epidemiological studies and pre-clinical evaluation of therapeutic and preventive vaccines and diagnostics. Thus, a combination of formative research with ecological field work and metagenomic lab approaches has been used to investigate the biology and ecology of triatomine bugs, the insect vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, leading to the development of alternative vector control strategies and key recommendations to public health officials. We have also performed pioneering studies on the pathogenesis and immunology of Chagas disease using naturally infected non-human primates, to uncover the mechanism of disease progression. In addition, as part of the first public-private-partnership focusing on the development of a Chagas disease therapeutic vaccine, and we are leading its evaluation at the Tulane National Research Primate Center, to generate proof-of-concept data for a therapeutic vaccine/immunotherapy for the treatment of an infection as an alternative/complement to current drug treatment. Lastly, Dr. Dumonteil is conducting more basic research on parasite biology and genomics, to help optimize current diagnostic tests and treatments for infected patients. Through these studies, Dr. Dumonteil has developed a large network of collaborators in the US, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, among others.

Research Areas
- Chagas disease
- Vaccine development
- Medical entomology
Honors & Awards
• 2022. Honorary Membership, “Asociación Chagas con Ciencia y Conocimiento A.C.", Mexico.
• 2023. Award for Outstanding Achievement and Commitment to Excellence in Total Competitive Research Funding, Tulane SPHTM.
• 2024. Innovation Award, Tulane University
• Non-inferiority trial of a therapeutic vaccine against Chagas disease in naturally infected rhesus macaques, NIH/NIAID R01 AI162907, PI.
• Intra-host Trypanosoma cruzi parasite dynamics in naturally-infected macaques and Chagas disease progression, NIH/NIAID R21 AI175523, PI.
• Design of a universal Rapid Diagnostic Test for the detection of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infections, GHIT Fund (Japan) #T2024-154, Co-investigator.
• Development of improved serological diagnostic and parasite genotyping tools for congenital Chagas disease, NIH/NICHD R01 HD94955, Co-investigator.
• Short-course benznidazole treatment to reduce Trypanosoma cruzi parasitic load in women of reproductive age: a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial, NIH/NICHD R01 HD092330, Co-investigator.
Publications
- Calderon-Quintal JA, Teh-Poot CF, Pech Piste LM, Martinez-Vega PP, Dzul-Huchim V, Torres-Acosta F, Waleckx E, Villanueva-Lizama L, Ortega-Lopez J, Herrera C, Dumonteil E and Cruz-Chan JV. Randomized field trial of a therapeutic vaccine against Trypanosoma cruzi natural infection in dogs and correlates for efficacy. bioRxiv, 2025.
- Clear RM, Tu W, Goff K, Marx PA, Herrera C and Dumonteil E. Association of antibody and T cell receptor repertoires in Trypanosoma cruzi infected rhesus macaques and host response to infection. J Biomed Sci 32(1):58, 2025.
- Desale H, Tu W, Goff K, Marx PA, Herrera C and Dumonteil E. PBMC transcriptomic signatures reflect Trypanosoma cruzi strain diversity and trained immunity in chronically infected macaques. JCI Insight 10(4):e186003, 2025.
- Bernabé KJ, E Dumonteil, C Herrera (2024) Clinician Knowledge of Chagas Disease After an Educational Intervention. JAMA Network Open, 7(7):e2419906.Majeau A, E Dumonteil, C Herrera (2024) Identification of highly conserved Trypanosoma cruzi antigens for the development of a universal serological diagnostic assay. Emerg Micro Inf. 13(1): 2315964.
- Dumonteil E, H Desale, W Tu, N Hernández-Cuevas, M Shroyer, K Goff, PA Marx, C Herrera (2023) Intra-host Trypanosoma cruzi strain dynamics shape disease progression in naturally-infected Rhesus macaques: the missing link in Chagas disease pathogenesis. Microbiol Spectrum, 11(5): e0423622.
- Dumonteil E, C Herrera, G Sabino-Santos (2023) Monkeypox virus evolution before 2022 outbreak. Emerg Inf Dis, 29(2): 451-453.
- Truyens C, E Dumonteil, J Alger, ML Cafferata, A Ciganda, L Gibbons, C Herrera, S Sosa-Estani, P Buekens (2021) Geographic variations in test reactivity for the serological diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection, J Clin Microbiol, 59(12): e01062-21.
View Dr. Dumonteil's publications at his NCBI profile page or Google scholar page.
Courses
TRMD8080, Large data set management and sequencing, part 1
TRMD8090, Large data set management and sequencing, part 2
Director of the MS in Tropical Medicine