This Week in Parasitism

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson consider the effects of climate change on parasitic diseases. Links for this episode: Climate change  and infectious diseases (Science) The more parasites  the better ? (Science) Host and parasite control  disease risk  (PNAS) Parasites dominate  food web links  (PNAS) The World Without Us  by Alan Weisman Image credit:  PLoS...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review three novel approaches to antimalarial chemotherapy. Links for this episode: Targeting  PI(4)K  to eliminate malaria (Nature) Antimicrobial peptides to target  sporogonic stages  of malaria (PLoS Path) Small molecule blocks malaria  invasion of mosquito  (PLoS Path) Photo credit Letters read  on TWiP 64 Contact Send you...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss evidence that the malaria parasite originated in gorillas. Links for this episode: Great apes and  zoonoses  (Science) Source of  human malaria  (PNAS) Origin of human malaria parasite in  gorillas  (Nature) Ape  Plasmodium  in Cameroon  not infecting humans  (PNAS) No  Plasmodium  in greater spot-nosed monkey (Int J P...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss the high diversity of malaria parasites in West African bats, and a vaccine against hookworm. Links for this episode: High diversity of West African  bat malaria parasites  (PNAS) Human  hookworm vaccine  (Vaccine) Gongylonema  infection in human (Am J Trop Med Hyg)  Letters read  on TWiP 62 Contact Send your questions...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review examples of paleoparasitology, the detection of parasites in archaeological material. Links for this episode: T. rex  had  Trichomonas  (PLoS One) King Richard III  had worms  (CNN) Discovery of  toilets in Japan  (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Paleoparasitology  in the Old World (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Soils from Seoul  (J Arachael Sci...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss how infection with  Toxoplasma gondii  causes mice to lose their aversion to cat urine, even after the parasites have been cleared. Links for this episode: T. gondii  in mice causes  loss of aversion  to cat urine (PLoS One) Cyclosporiasis  update  (CDC) Letters read  on TWiP 60 Listener Pick Blaine  -  The Worm Within...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson update the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis, discuss the avian malaria parasite  P. lophurae , and review protection against malaria by intravenous immunization with a nonreplicating sporozoite vaccine. Links for this episode: Cyclosporiasis  outbreak  in US (CDC) Extraordinary history  of REV (PLoS Biology) Avian malaria...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Guest: Cali Despommier Vincent and Dickson update the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis, and Dickson reads a chapter from his new book. Links for this episode: Dickson and Cali  (jpg) Cyclosporiasis  keeps spreading  (ProMedMail) Cyclosporiasis is  not a virus!  (Gawker) Cyclosporiasis is  not a virus!  (Yahoo) The Global Dispatch People, Par...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review a multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis caused by the single-celled coccidian parasite  Cyclospora   cayetanensis . The day after recording this episode,  ProMedMail reported  that the outbreak of cyclosporiasis had spread to Texas. Links for this episode: Cyclosporiasis  (CDC) Cyclospora   life cycle  (CDC) Cyclosporia...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss  Myxobolus cerebralis , the parasite that causes whirling disease of salmonids. Links for this episode: Myxobolus cerebralis  (Wikipedia) Fish  migration  (Wikipedia) Trout with  whirling disease  (YouTube) Letters read on TWiP 55 Listener Pick Amanda -  Pandemic: On the Brink Contact Send your questions and comments (...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson reveal how invasive harlequin ladybirds use biological weapons against their competitors. Links for this episode: Invasive Harlequin Ladybirds'  biological weapon  (Science) Immunity an  invasive success  (Science) Invading ladybugs carry  bioweapons  (C&EN) Ladybird Ladybird  (Wikipedia) G. Evelyn Hutchinson  (Wikipedia) Lett...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson consider a case history of a young man with  Blastocystis hominis  - is it causing his disease? Links for this episode: Blastocystis  (Wikipedia) Blastocystis   review  (Trends Parasitol) Letters read  on TWiP 54 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to  twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (f...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss the finding that immunity to a sandfly salivary protein protects against fatal visceral leishmaniasis in hamsters. Links for this episode: Immunity to a salivary protein  protects against leishmaniasis  (PNAS) Image of blood-fed  Lutzomyia longipalpis  (right)  credit Short history of  Leishmania vaccines Leishmania  o...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review the life cycle and pathogenesis of the giant kidney worm,  Dioctophyme renale . Links for this episode: Dioctophymiasis  (CDC) Dioctophyme renale  (Wikipedia) Fatal bilateral  dioctophymiasis  (J Parasitol) Clinical Parasitology  by Paul C. Beaver D. renale   in a dog  (Vet. Parasitol.) Surgical removal  of  D. renale  ...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Guest:  Anthony A. James Special guest Anthony A. James joins Vincent and Dickson to discuss how mosquitoes can be genetically modified to control infectious diseases. Links for this episode: Field cage studies  of modified mosquitoes (PLoS NTD) Flightless  mosquitoes (PNAS) When  mutant mosquitoes  attack (NY Times) Contact Send your questions a...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson reveal how malaria parasites avoid lysis by complement in the mosquito. Links for this episode: Malaria parasites  co-opt factor H  (Cell Host Microbe) Complement  system (Wikipedia) Letters read  on TWiP 50 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to  twip@twiv.tv

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss innate immune sensing of  Toxoplasma gondii  in mice, and heme metabolism in protozoan parasites. Links for this episode: Sensing   Toxoplasma  in mice (Cell Host Microbe) Make it, take it, or leave it  (PLoS Path) Heme  (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 49 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier , and Josef Sabo Vincent, Dickson, and Josef discuss tetraspanins on the surface of schistosomes as vaccine candidates and immune evasion proteins. Links for this episode: S. japonicum  tetraspanin-2 as a  vaccine target  (PLoS NTP) Protection with  S. mansoni   tetraspanin-2  (PLoS NTP) S. mansoni  tetraspanins  confer protection  (Nat Med) Tetrasp...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review evidence that a virus of the protozoan parasite  Trichomonas vaginalis  may exacerbate disease. Links for this episode: Endobiont viruses  sensed by the human host  (PLoS One) Letters read  on TWiP 47 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson meet with Judith Straimer and Marcus Lee to discuss their method for site-specific genome editing in  Plasmodium falciparum using zinc finger nucleases. Right-click to download  TWiP #46  (46 MB .mp3, 64 minutes). Links for this episode: Judith Straimer  and  Marcus Lee Genome editing  in  P. falciparum  with zinc finger nucle...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss  Toxoplasma  biology with Stanford University Professor  John Boothroyd . Links for this episode: T. gondii and  free range animals Kiss and spit:  Toxoplasma   rhoptries  (Nat Rev Micro) Toxoplasma   cell invasion  (Curr Opin Micro) Loading of IRG  onto parasitophorous vacuole (Cell Micro) Toxoplasma gondii  on TWiP #...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson explain how a nematode manipulates cricket behavior and alters the food web of a stream. Links for this episode: Nematomorph parasites  alter food web of streams  (Ecol Lett) Manipulation of cockle behavior  by a trematode (Parasitology) Cockles infected by one parasite are  more susceptible to a second  (J Parasitol) Letters...

Vincent and Dickson review how sickle cell microRNAs contribute to malaria resistance, and inhibition of innate immune responses by an enzyme from trypanosomes. Links for this episode: microRNAs involved in  sickle cell resistance  to  Plasmodium  (Cell Host Microbe) Trypanosome adenylate cyclases  modulate innate immune response (Science) Letters read  on TWiP 43 Contact Send your questions and c...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson answer listener emails about  Leishmania , dual infection of vectors, tapeworms, liver flukes, toxoplasmosis, and much more. Links for this episode: Metabolic pathways  required by  Leishmania  (Ann Rev Micro) Tapeworms in  people's brains  (Carl Zimmer) Poison Ivy Bovine tuberculosis  disguised by liver fluke  (Nature) Giant...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review medically important arthropods. Links for this episode: Thomas Eisner Incomplete metamorphosis  in insects (jpg) Complete metamorphosis  in an insect with aquatic immature stages (jpg) Complete metamorphosis  in an insect with terrestrial immature stages (jpg) Letters read  on TWiP 41 Contact Send your questions and com...