This Week in Parasitism

Episodes

TWiP 80: Daniel in the parasites’ den

January 8, 2015
Tagged as: bacterial vaginitis, bacterial vaginosis, metagenome, Mycoplasma girerdii, parasite, parasitism, Trichomonas, trichomoniasis

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

Vincent and Dickson welcome new TWiP host Daniel Griffin to discuss the association of a new Mycoplasma with trichomoniasis, and to introduce a new feature to the show, a case study.

Download TWiP #80 (85 MB .mp3, 118 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Association of Mycoplasma with trichomoniasis (PLoS One)
Biggest DNA genomes (Wikipedia)
Send your case study solutions to [email protected]
Letters read on TWiP 80

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 79: Across the river and into the trees

November 22, 2014
Tagged as: bacteria, infection, leishmania, Malaysia, microbiome, parasite, parasitism, Plasmodium knowlesi, sandfly

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss the spread of P. knowlesi in Malaysia, and how Leishmania parasites protect the sandfly gut from bacterial infection.

Download TWiP #79 (65 MB .mp3, 91 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Spread of P. knowlesi in Malaysia (NY Times)
Climate change in Europe and vector transmitted disease (Infez Med)
Colonisation resistance in the sandfly gut (Parasites & Vectors)
Car Talk co-host dies
Early Career Scientists Symposium
Image credit: Anne Marie
Letters read on TWiP 79

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 78: Eau de rodent

October 29, 2014
Tagged as: attraction, host, malaria, odors, parasite, parasitism, Plasmodium, rodent, scents

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss how malaria parasites induce odors in their rodent hosts that attract mosquitoes.

Download TWiP #78 (52 MB .mp3, 71 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Visceral Leishmaniasis, South Sudan (ProMedMail)
Malaria-induced changes in host odors (PNAS)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiP 77

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 77: Mixed messages

September 19, 2014
Tagged as: Arabidopsis, Cuscuta, dodder, fungus, haustoria, parasite, parasitism, plant, tomato

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss the exchange of messenger RNAs between a parasitic plant and its hosts.

Download TWiP #77 (48 MB .mp3, 66 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Exchange of mRNAs between parasite and plant (Science)
White leaf rust (Wikipedia)
Cuscuta (Wikipedia)
Fungal haustoria (PNAS)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiP 77

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 76: Herpesvirus worms its way out

September 2, 2014
Tagged as: cytokine, gamma herpesvirus, gamma interferon, H. polygyrus, helminth, IL4, latency, parasite, parasitism, S. mansoni, TH2 response

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss how infection of mice with helminths induces cytokines that reactivate a latent gamma-herpesvirus.

Download TWiP #76 (61 MB .mp3, 104 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Helminths reactivate herpesvirus (Science)
How helminths go viral (Science)
Herpesvirus latency protects from bacterial infection (Nature)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiP 76

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 75: Parasite wonders with Bobbi Pritt

July 21, 2014
Tagged as: Bobbi Pritt, clinical diagnostic parasitology, laboratory, parasite, parasitism

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Guest: Bobbi Pritt

Bobbi Pritt joins Vincent and Dickson to talk about directing a clinical parasitology laboratory and her weekly case reports at Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites.

Download TWiP #75 (50 MB .mp3, 69 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites
Letters read on TWiP 75

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 74: Nature has all the answers, what is your question?

July 4, 2014
Tagged as: antigen, egress, malaria, parasite, parasitism, Plasmodium falciparum, red blood cell, schizont, vaccine

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson review a novel malaria vaccine candidate comprising a parasite protein involved in egress from red blood cells.

Download TWiP #74 (62 MB .mp3, 86 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Egress protein a malaria vaccine candidate (Science)
Human proteins (Wikipedia)
Plasmodium genomics resource
Image: P. falciparum ring forms and gametocytes in blood
Letters read> on TWiP 74

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Episodes

TWiP 73: I’m nibbling my way back to you

June 12, 2014
Tagged as: dysentery, Entamoeba histolytica, parasite, parasitism, trogocytosis

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss how nibbling of human cells by Entamoeba histolytica, a process called amoebic trogocytosis, contributes to cell killing and tissue invasion.