Immunobiology of parasite infections

Worm parasites such as the liver flukes, blood flukes and gastrointestinal nematodes infect grazing ruminants, resulting in enormous economic loss to the agricultural sector and subsistence farmers. Many of these parasites also cause severe and debilitating diseases and malnutrition in humans, especially in children of developing countries. At present there are few drugs and no molecular vaccines effective against these parasites.

Knowledge of how parasites and hosts interact with each other will provide us with the information we need to understand disease susceptibility and design better vaccines or drugs to prevent and treat parasitic disease. Our projects are integrated and will study both the genetics and protein biochemistry of parasite molecules involved in pathogenesis as well as host genes and gene products determining host resistance. The Laboratory has a number of international collaborations and frequently hosts visitors and students from overseas laboratories and institutes.

Contact: Dr. David Piedrafita.

For a list of all available BRL student projects please click here