Editor-in-Chief
Professor J Russell Stothard - Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
Meet the Editors: Q&A with Prof. J Russell Stothard, Editor-in-Chief of Parasitology
Professor Stothard is a medical parasitologist with board interests in the evolution, epidemiology and ecology of parasites. His main interest is on schistosomiasis (Schistosoma spp. and planorbid snails) and its control with large-scale preventive chemotherapy. Secondary interests include soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and other snail-trematode diseases e.g. fascioliasis. Most recent research he has been investigating the interplay between female and male genital schistosomiasis with the HIV epidemic in in sub-Sharan Africa.
Deputy and Special Issues Editor
Professor John T. Ellis - University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Meet the Editors: Q&A with Prof. John T. Ellis, Deputy and Special Issues Editor for Parasitology
John is a molecular parasitologist, whose research interests include parasitic protozoa of medical and veterinary importance. His current research areas are focussed on reverse vaccinology, epidemiology and molecular diagnostics. These studies involve applying “omics” technologies and bioinformatics to the study of Neospora caninum and neosporosis, human gastrointestinal infections by Dientamoeba, Giardia and Cryptosporidium species, as well as malaria and toxoplasmosis.
Editors
Dr Cinzia Cantacessi - University of Cambridge, UK
Meet the Editor: Q&A with Cinzia Cantacessi, Cambridge Veterinary School
Dr Cinzia Cantacessi is Reader in Parasite Infection Biology at the Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK. Her research largely focuses on the application of -omics technologies and bioinformatics to the study of host-parasite interactions, with a particular emphasis on host-parasite-microbiota relationships. In particular, her work focuses on the role(s) that helminth-associated changes in the composition and function of the host gut microbiota play in parasite-mediated suppression of inflammation, in the establishment of worm infections and/or in the pathophysiology of helminth disease.
Dr Lisa Ranford-Cartwright - University of Glasgow, UK
Meet the Editor: Q&A with Lisa Ranford-Cartwright, University of Glasgow
Lisa is a parasite geneticist working primarily on human malaria parasites and mosquito-parasite interactions, both in the laboratory and in malaria-endemic countries. Her research focuses on understanding the effect of parasite genetic polymorphism on parasite phenotypic variation, particularly in transmission biology, parasite-vector interactions and parasite growth rate in the red blood cells of the human host. Her research combines laboratory experimental work with fieldwork in a number of malaria-endemic countries, with the aim of applying the information on genetic differences between parasites, gained from her experimental work, to develop new tests to predict disease severity in people, or the likelihood of mosquito transmission. Other current interests include epigenetic studies of Anopheles mosquitoes, microbiome studies of African schoolchildren, and genetic studies of Onchocerca volvulus.
Professor Joseph A. Jackson - University of Salford, UK
Meet the Editor: Q&A with Prof. Joseph Jackson, University of Salford
Professor Jackson's expertise includes ecological parasitology, wildlife parasitology and ecoimmunology. His work focusses on the interaction between the environment, the immune system and disease - including parasitic disease - and how this relates to fitness in wild animals and to health, welfare and productivity in domesticated animals. There is also a strong background interest in the general natural history of parasitic helminths.
Professor Laura Rinaldi - University of Naples "Federico II", Italy
Meet the Editors: Q&A with Prof. Laura Rinaldi, Editor for Parasitology
Professor Rinaldi is a veterinary parasitologist with broad interests in the epidemiology (using geospatial tools), diagnosis (improving traditional and using innovative techniques) and control of protozoa, helminths and arthropoda of veterinary and medical importance. Her main research areas are focused on helminths (e.g. gastrointestinal nematodes and flukes) and anthelmintic resistance in ruminants. She also studies the cestode Echinococcus granulosus, as well as diagnosis, mapping and control of human soil-transmitted helminths, inclusive of zoonotic parasites.
Professor Jonathan Wastling - Brunel University London, UK
Meet the Editor: Q&A with Professor Jonathan Wastling
Professor Jonathan Wastling works on the biology of human and animal pathogens, including protozoan and helminth parasites. His work focuses on host-pathogen interactions, vaccine and drug development. He has developed quantitative proteomic approaches to investigate parasite and host responses and has been instrumental in developing widely used public domain systems-biology resources for apicomplexan parasites. Other interests include the molecular epidemiology of protozoan parasites with a particular focus on veterinary and zoonotic parasites.
Editorial Board
Dr Waleed Saleh Alsalem - Saudi Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Dr. Al Salem is molecular epidemiologist and senior consultant in Saudi Ministry of Health. He is an expert of molecular epidemiology of vector-borne diseases. He is also working on molecular characterization of pathogens that transmitted by disease vectors. His current studies focus on the epidemiology and transmission dynamic of emerging zoonotic infection.
Dr Raffi Aroian - UMASS Medical School, USA
Dr Aroian is a Parasitologist with a strong background in gastrointestinal nematodes of humans and livestock, in biological control, and in using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model for parasitic nematodes. His laboratory at UMASS Medical School is developing new anthelmintic therapies for hookworms, Ascarids, whipworms, and ruminant parasites based on natural products as well as traditional drug screening and studies anthelmintic mechanism of action.
Professor Gordon A. Awandare - University of Ghana, Ghana
Gordon Awandare is the founding Director of West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), and a Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Ghana, Legon. He holds a Masters in Biochemistry from the University of Ghana, and a PhD in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, PA, USA. Awandare did his postdoctoral training at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research, MD, USA. His main research focus has been on the biology and pathogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum in children, including providing a better understanding of host immune responses and exploitation of parasite invasion mechanisms for vaccine development.
Professor Damer Blake - The Royal Veterinary College, UK
Professor Blake’s interests include vaccine development, population genetics and host-pathogen-microbiome interactions, utilising next generation sequencing and reverse genetics technologies.
Dr Alan Bowman - University of Aberdeen, UK
Dr Alan Bowman’s researches medical and veterinary ectoparasites including ticks, mites, fleas and sea lice in the areas of molecular biology, physiology, drug targets and pathogen-transmission. His current research projects investigate the varroa-honeybee-virus and human-tick-borrelia interactions.
Dr Collette Britton - University of Glasgow, UK
Dr Britton is a molecular parasitologist with interests in helminth development, gene regulation and vaccine design. Her research focuses on gastrointestinal nematodes infecting animals and humans and uses C. elegans as model system to determine nematode gene function.
Dr Katharine C. Carter - University of Strathclyde, UK
Dr Carter's research has focused on improving delivery of drugs given by different administration routes, mechanisms responsible for resistance to drug treatment, vaccine development, and assessment of host immune responses. She has used leishmaniasis as a model in many of her studies.
Dr Kevin Couper - University of Manchester, UK
Dr Couper is a Parasite Immunologist with a background in studying the immune response to Toxoplasma gondii and malaria. His group’s current focus is studying the pathogenesis and pathology of cerebral malaria. His group also maintains an interest in studying the pathways that control the development and regulation of anti-parasite T cell responses during Plasmodium infection.
Dr Maria de Nazaré Correia Soeiro - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
Dr Nazaré Soeiro is a parasitologist with great interested in neglected diseases more specifically Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis, covering cellular biology aspects of the parasite : host cell interaction, besides presenting expertise in pre-clinical studies of drug discovery programs. Dr Soeiro is titular research and head of the Cellular Biology laboratory from Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Professor John P. Dalton - National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, Ireland
Professor John P. Dalton is a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Professor in Molecular Parasitology at the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. His primary interest is in the molecular biology, biochemistry and immunology of trematodes that cause fasciolosis and schistosomiasis with a view toward developing new diagnostics and vaccines. He also researches proteases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria that are involved in the terminal stages of haemoglobin digestion and, thereby, potential drug targets.
Professor Paul W. Denny - Durham University , UK
Work in Dr Denny's laboratory is focused on furthering the understanding of the role of lipid biosynthesis and membrane trafficking in the interaction of host cells with apicomplexan and kinetoplastid protozoan pathogens, with a view to elucidating specific activities amenable to therapeutic intervention. These interests have enabled him to undertake a key role in the Durham-led MRC GCRF Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, a community of researchers from the UK, South America and south Asia focused on validating new drug targets for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.
Bahram Sayyaf Dezfuli - University of Ferrara, Italy
Bahram Sayyaf Dezfuli is a fish parasitologist with particular interest in: diseases caused by helminths in fish, host-parasite interactions, morphology of helminths, life cycle of helminth parasites of fish and birds. Other interests include histopathology with particular focus on fish innate immune response against helminths. His group also maintains an interest in studying cells in the digestive tract of two species of elasmobranchs.
Dr Jenny Dunn - University of Lincoln, UK
Dr Dunn is an ecologist with strong interests in the community ecology of host-parasite interactions, and parasite transmission in avian systems. She is particularly interested in the sub-clinical impacts of parasitic infection, vector transmission of avian haemoparasites, and co-infections.
Dr Andy Fenton - University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Fenton is a theoretical ecologist with a strong interest in the use of simple mathematical models to describe the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of potentially complex host-parasite systems. In particular he is very interested in the community context of disease, both in terms of how coinfecting parasite species interact to alter host susceptibility and transmission, and how multiple host species combine to influence parasite transmission and persistence within diverse and species rich ecological communities.
Dr Caroline F. Frey - Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Saskatoon, Canada
Dr Frey has a strong interest in zoonotic and more specifically food- or water-borne parasites. She has developed methods for detecting and isolating different parasites (Toxoplasma and other apicomplexans, Trichinella, Echinococcus etc.) in their hosts, in food, or in their vector species. She has also performed research that advanced the molecular characterization of trichomonads, and has applied the novel diagnostic tools to epidemiologic investigations.
Jen Friedman - Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, USA
Dr. Friedman is a pediatrician who conducts international health research out of Lifespan's Center for International Health Research. Her research addresses quantification of and mechanisms of morbidity of parasitic diseases among pregnant women and children.
Javier González-Miguel - Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC), Spain
Dr. Javier González-Miguel is a molecular parasitologist with interests in host/parasite interactions produced by helminths of zoonotic importance, mainly Fasciola hepatica, Dirofilaria immitis and Ascaris suum. His research focuses on unravelling cross-talk relationships, principally linked with the exploitation of the host haemostatic system, that could help defining new pharmacological or vaccine targets for the early and safe elimination of these parasites. Areas of expertise: helminth parasites; fasciolosis; dirofilariosis; ascariasis; molecular biology; host/parasite relationships; haemostatic system; fibrinolytic system; “in vitro” models.
María Guadalupe Ortega Pierres - Federal Government of Mexico
Dr. Ortega-Pierres research focused on host-parasite interactions and drug resistance in the parasitic protozoan Giardia duodenalis. She obtained her PhD from the University of Bristol in the UK and she works at the Center for Research and Advances Studies in Mexico. Currently her work includes the characterization of virulent factors of this parasite and of their effects on intestinal epithelial cells with the aim to understand at the molecular level the pathogenic mechanisms of giardiasis. She has also approached the study of mechanisms and molecules involved in the induction of resistance to albendazole in this parasite with the aim to develop alternative methods for the treatment of the giardiasis.
Professor Yang Guo-Jing - Hainan Medical University, China
Professor Yang Guo-Jing has been engaged in the research of tropical diseases for decades, and has accumulated rich experiences in the fields of modern informatics technology (including geographic information system, remote sensing analysis technology, spatio-temporal modelling) and the infectious disease transmission dynamics focusing on "host and pathogen ecology and environment research", data mining, machine learning, optimization of control strategies.
Professor Joanne Hamilton - Aberystwyth University, UK
Jo is Professor of Zoology and Parasitology and Associate Dean of Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience in the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences at Aberystwyth University. Her research focuses on proteomic and molecular approaches to unravel host-parasite interactions and she has been privileged to work with a wide variety of parasites and vectors including nematodes and trematodes of medical and veterinary importance, stable flies and tsetse.
Dr Diana Hansen - Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Australia
Dr Hansen is a Parasite Immunologist with a strong background in mechanisms of pathogenesis and immunity to Trypanosomes and Plasmodium parasites. Diana is the Head of the Malaria Immunology Group at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. Her research includes pre-clinical infection models as well as human studies in endemic areas.
Dr Helena Helmby - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Dr Helmby is an immunologist with an interest in helminth infections. Helena’s current research is focused on studies of immunity to schistosomes and intestinal nematode infections, including how chronic worm infections may alter immune responses to concurrent infections, such as malaria.
Professor Geoff Hide - University of Salford, UK
Professor Hide has interests covering broad aspects of mainly protozoan parasitology although is focussed on Toxoplasma and trypanosomes. Understanding the interactions between hosts and protozoan parasites involves aspects ranging from cell and molecular interactions through epidemiology to ecology. Much of his research is focussed around these interfaces. Originally a molecular epidemiologist and population geneticist, Geoff’s research encompasses studies in human, animal and wildlife systems and includes genetic studies on host immune genes in natural populations as well as parasite distribution.
Professor Wei Hu - School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Professor Wei Hu is a parasitologist with broad interests in helminth biology, including development, genetics and evolution, as well as developing the new tools for parasitic diseases control Her main interest is on Schistosoma japonicum’s invasion and development mechanism, population genetic variation and evolution features, rapid diagnostic method and drug development. Secondary interests include the biology of Echinococcus and other trematode
Professor Abdul Jabbar - The University of Melbourne, Australia
Professor Jabbar is an Associate Professor in Veterinary Parasitology at the University of Melbourne. Abdul’s current research involves the epidemiology and diagnosis of socioeconomically important parasites of animals, the evolution of parasites of Australian native animals, and the drug discovery against gastrointestinal nematodes of animals.
Pikka Jokelainen - Statens Serum Institut, Denmark
Dr Pikka Jokelainen’s main professional interests are One Health and zoonoses, and in particular zoonotic parasites in humans, pets, domestic animals and wildlife.
Professor Nadira Karunaweera - University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Professor Karunaweera’s research is in Medical Parasitology with emphases on malaria and leishmaniasis. She currently works on clinical, biological, epidemiological and molecular aspects of leishmaniasis to understand its pathology, pathogenesis and transmission that are important for better disease management and its control.
Dr Frank Katzer - Moredun Research Institute, UK
Dr Katzer leads a research group at the Moredun Research Institute in the United Kingdom, studying protozoan parasites (Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma, Neospora, Giardia, Sarcocystis, Theileria and Babesia) of livestock, wildlife and humans. He obtained his D.Phil from the University of York and subsequently worked at the Roslin Institute, the Veterinary Schools of the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and since 2007 he has been working at the Moredun Research Institute. His research area focuses on understanding parasite diversity, transmission routes and the development of methods that can be used to detect, speciate and genotype protozoan parasites in animal, environmental and food samples. His work aims to develop intervention strategies to stop/reduce the risk of parasite infection for animals and humans.
Dr James LaCourse - Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
Dr LaCourse is a Senior Lecturer in Parasitology at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he is Director of Studies for Masters Programmes in Tropical Disease Biology. His research focuses upon helminth biochemical and molecular biology, with particular focus upon detoxification pathways and potential roles in development of drug resistance, and establishment and maintenance of parasitic infection. In addition, James has growing interests in field epidemiology and molecular monitoring of the potential for anthelmintic drug resistance in soil-transmitted helminths of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as helminths of veterinary importance.
Professor Zhao-Rong Lun - School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
He is most interested in the gene and non-coding RNA function and molecular evolution of human and animal parasitic organisms particular trypanosomes (Trypanosoma brucei) and Leishmania (L. donovani and L. amazonensis), epidemiology of zoonosis and foodborne parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii, Clonorchis sinensis and Angiostrongylus cantonensis. He is also interested in the development of compounds against trypanosomes and leishmania species and the pathogenesis of Trichomonas vaginalis in an animal model. In addition, he currently pays more attention to malaria parasites and particularly the resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) and on the development of new treatment for the ACTs resistance.
Dr Lien Luong - University of Alberta, Canada
Dr. Lien Luong’s research interests encompass areas of ecology, evolutionary ecology, host-parasite interactions, and disease ecology. She is investigating the role of facultative parasites and phenotypic plasticity in the evolution of parasite life-history strategies. She is also interested in the indirect effects of parasite exposure, or the “non-consumptive effects” of parasitism. Analogous to predator-prey interactions, hosts can experience an “ecology of fear” whereby the presence of parasites induces a change in host behaviour, physiology or morphology, extending the deleterious effects of parasites beyond infection per se.
Dr Piers Mitchell - University of Cambridge, UK
Dr Mitchell is based in the Archaeology Department at the University of Cambridge, where he studies the evolution of infectious diseases. Piers has a particular interest in ancient parasites and heads the Cambridge Ancient Parasites Laboratory. He explores the way past lifestyle and dietary choices have impacted our ancestors' risk of parasite infection from early prehistory to industrialisation. He is a former president of the Paleopathology Association, the worldwide organisation for the study of ancient diseases.
Siti Nursheena Mohd Zain - University of Malaya, Malaysia
Dr Siti Nursheena Mohd Zain is a professor at the Faculty of Science and currently holding a post as the Director of the International Relations Office, Universiti Malaya. Dr Sheena’s research niche involves mainly aspects of Helminth Parasitology especially epidemiology and host-parasite interactions in urban rodents, dogs, and cats. This also includes zoonotic ectoparasites and transmission of diseases. Currently, her research area also includes understanding the epidemiology of Blastocystis sp and Leptospira sp infections in the animal hosts. She has extensively worked on parasitic infections amongst vulnerable communities particularly migrant workers and the urban poor.
Professor Serge Morand - CNRS, ISEM, University of Montpellier, France
Serge Morand focuses his research on the evolutionary ecology of parasite transmission and applied health ecology. Field parasitologist, he is concerned by the interlinkages between biodiversity and health, investigating zoonotic diseases, food-borne parasites, or antimicrobial resistance at the human – animal – environment interface.
Dr Eric Morgan - University of Bristol, UK
Eric’s research focuses on parasite epidemiology in relation to climatic variation. This includes experimental, computer and field methods, and aims to support efficient and sustainable approaches to parasite management in domestic animals under global warming and anthelmintic resistance. His supplementary interests include the dynamics of parasite transmission in free-living wildlife, the intersections between ecology and parasitology, and the development and dissemination of evidence-based practice in parasite control.
Francisca Mutapi - University of Edinburgh, UK
Professor Francisca Mutapi is an immuno-epidemiologist who conducts and leads basic science studies in parasite immunology, molecular biology, and epidemiology to generate an evidence base to inform national and global parasite diagnostic and control strategies. Her main focus is on the helminths Schistosoma sp but she studies these in the context of co-infection with viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa and co-morbidity arising from both infectious and non-infectious diseases in schistosome endemic populations.
Dr Diana Outlaw - Mississippi State University, USA
Dr Outlaw's expertise are phylogenetic and biodiversification of haemosporidians.
Dr Chandrawathani Panchadcharam - Malaysian Veterinary Research Institute, Malaysia
Areas of interest/expertise:
- Parasite control in small ruminants, small ruminant helminths, trypanosomiasis in ruminants, protozoan infections in ruminants and poultry, conventional diagnostics in parasitology for farm animals, identification of parasitic diseases via post mortem and microscopy in the tropics, biting fly dynamics in the tropics related to disease control.
Dr. Gregorio Perez-Cordon - Cryptosporidium Reference Unit, Public Health Wales, Microbiology ABM, UK
Areas of expertise: Apicomplexa, Trypanosomes, In vivo experimental infections of mice, Microbiology, Cellular and molecular biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Molecular epidemiology
Dr Mark Robinson – Queen’s University, Belfast, UK
Dr Mark Robinson is a Reader in Molecular Parasitology in the School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK. His research focusses on understanding the molecular-level interactions between helminths and their mammalian hosts. In particular, his work involves the application of -omics technologies to study Fasciola hepatica and other food-borne trematode infections as well as paramphistomes of veterinary importance (e.g. Calicophoron daubneyi).
Dr W. Evan Secor - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
Dr. Secor conducts research on the immunology, pathology and epidemiology of schistosome infections, including longitudinal assessment of the most efficient ways to deliver mass treatment as well as schistosomiasis coinfections with HIV or malaria. He is also involved in the development and testing of improved diagnostic tools for several neglected tropical diseases. In addition, his laboratory investigates drug resistance in trichomoniasis.
Professor Nico Smit - North-West University, South Africa
Professor Nico Smit is an aquatic parasitologist with a broad interest in all aspects of fish parasites. His main research focuses on the biodiversity, integrative taxonomy, and ecology of parasitic Crustacea and blood Protozoa in marine and freshwater fishes. His current projects have a broader scope and address various elements of environmental parasitology and parasite conservation.
Professor Utpal Tatu - Indian Institute of Science, India
Prof. Tatu’s One Health research lab focuses on studying neglected infectious disease causing organisms. The list of diseases being studied in his lab includes Amoebiasis, Bebesiosis, Candidiasis, Cryptococcosis, Giardiasis, Malaria, Rabies as well as Trypanosomosis. In addition to exploring new drug targets for treatment, his lab is also involved in disease surveillance and development of field applicable snap tests for easy diagnosis of infections. Most recently he has developed a sensitive RT-PCR diagnostic kit for Covid19, which is approved by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
Professor Louis-Albert Tchuem Tchuente - University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Professor Louis-Albert Tchuem Tchuenté is a parasitologist with broad interests in the epidemiology, ecology and control of parasites. He has extensive experience in various aspects of research and control of schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and other neglected tropical diseases. He is the founding Director of the Centre for Schistosomiasis & Parasitology – the reference research centre for schistosomiasis and STH in Cameroon, and the Coordinator of the National Programme for the Control of Schistosomiasis and Intestinal Helminthiasis. Through his scientific discoveries, he contributed to a better knowledge of the reproductive biology of schistosomes and its implications on the epidemiology of schistosomiasis; and he provided new insights on the precision mapping of schistosomiasis and the transition from control to elimination.
Dr Juan T. Timi - Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET, Argentina
Dr Timi's expertise are: Fish parasitology, parasite ecology and biological indicators.
Professor Paul Torgerson - University of Zurich, Switzerland
Professor Torgerson is Professor of Epidemiology, at the Vetsuisse faculty, University of Zürich. He has a particular research interest in the epidemiology, transmission control and economic effects of parasites, particularly zoonotic parasites at the animal human interface. He is also interested in the statistical approaches to the analysis of parasite populations. Current studies focus on the epidemiology and burden of echinococcosis and food borne parasitic disease.
Professor Mark Viney - University of Liverpool, UK
Professor Viney’s research focusses on the biology of parasitic nematodes, specifically investigating aspects of the control of developmental switches in their life cycles. His work particularly focuses on the parasitic nematode Strongyloides, but he also works with the free-living ‘model’ Caenorhabditis elegans. He also pursues interests in the eco-immunology of wild rodents, seeking to understand the natural immune environment in which wild parasites live and evolve.
Professor R. Alan Wilson - University of York, UK
Professor Wilson's research expertise: General area, parastic platyhelmiths. In particular, the cell biology and immunology of human blood flukes of the Genus Schistosoma. More specifically the interrogation of genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes in the quest for effective vaccines and new diagnostic tools.
Vyacheslav Yurchenko - University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Professor Vyacheslav Yurchenko is a molecular parasitologist with research interests covering broad aspects of trypanosomatid biology, from taxonomy, systematics, and evolution to molecular mechanisms governing virulence. The main model species in his laboratory are Leishmania and various monoxenous trypanosomatids. In addition, Vyacheslav is involved in studies of trypanosomatids’ endobionts (viruses and bacteria) with a focus on their role in parasites’ life cycle and pathogenicity.
Dr Annetta Zintl - University College Dublin, Ireland
Dr Zintl's research interests have focused on various parasites chiefly with the aim to investigate their importance for human and/or animal health in Ireland. A long-term research focus has been the ecology and epidemiology of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Expertise: (Molecular) epidemiology, detection and control of Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma, Babesia, Neospora, trypanosomes, heartworm, liver and rumen fluke, ticks and lice; parasite-host cell interactions; GIS modeling of parasite distribution.
Social Media Editors
Dr Emily Pascoe - University of California Davis, USA
Meet the Editors: Q&A with Emily Pascoe and Maureen Williams, Social Media Editors for Parasitology
Dr Pascoe’s research interests lie in parasite and pathogen ecology. She holds a postdoctoral position at the CDC Pacific Southwest Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases. Her current research focusses on the ecology of ticks and tick-borne pathogens. Dr Pascoe strongly believes in making science more accessible to all, and is involved in several outreach projects with this aim, including her social media editorial role at Parasitology.
Dr Joel Barratt - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta
Joel Barratt is a bioinformatician within the Parasitic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta (USA). His research at CDC involves the continued improvement of molecular surveillance methods to complement epidemiological investigations of illness outbreaks caused by Cyclospora cayetanensis, understanding the population structure of Strongyloides species, and the development of novel diagnostic tools for detecting a range of parasitic infections. He is also the primary investigator on a project aiming to better understand the genetic population structure of the sexually transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis.
TJ Odom - Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, USA
TJ Odom is a PhD candidate at the Odum School of Ecology at The University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia (USA). TJ’s research leverages natural history collections to investigate parasite mediated competition as a mechanism shaping the spatial distributions of amphibian hosts and their parasites in wet montane systems. He also uses insights from community ecology to model seasonality in parasite communities and identify mechanisms shaping parasite community composition across spatiotemporal scales.
Editorial Office
Editorial Office - parasitology@cambridge.org