This Week in Parasitism

Episodes

TWiP 37: Dracunculiasis

February 23, 2012
Tagged as: dracunculiasis, dracunculus, filarial, guinea, medinensis, nematode, parasite, parasitism, worm

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss the life cycle and pathogenesis of Dracunculus medinensis, the filarial nematode that causes dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease.

Download TWiP #37 (74 MB .mp3, 102 minutes).

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Episodes

TWiP 36: Trichuris and microbes plan a hatch

February 1, 2012
Tagged as: microbiota, microflora, parasite, parasitism, symbiosis, trichuris

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson review how gut bacteria help establish T. muris in the large intestine of mice

Download TWiP #36 (50 MB .mp3, 69 minutes).

Links for this episode:

T. muris exploits the intestinal microflora (Science)
Trichuris Park (jpg)
Letters read on TWiP 36
Video of Dickson at the whiteboard (view below)

Contact

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Episodes

TWiP 35: Malaria control with David Fidock

January 13, 2012
Tagged as: artemisinin, chloroquine, drug resistance, malaria, parasite, parasitism, Plasmodium

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss control of malaria with their Columbia University colleague David Fidock

Download TWiP #35 (55 MB .mp3, 77 minutes).

Links for this episode:

The Fidock laboratory
Next-generation antimalarial drug discovery (Science)
Insights into artemisinin resistance (Curr Op Inf Dis)
Letters read on TWiP 35

Contact

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@microbe.tv

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Episodes

TWiP 34: Up against the Wolbachia

December 13, 2011
Tagged as: aedes aegypti, Anopheles, filaria, malaria, mosquito, parasite, parasitism, Plasmodium, symbiosis, wolbachia

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss control of malaria and filariasis with the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia

Download TWiP #34 (66 MB .mp3, 91 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Targeting Wolbachia for antifilarial therapy (PLoSNTD)
Wolbachia inhibits malaria parasite (PLoS One)
Letters read on TWiP 34

Contact

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Episodes

TWiP 33: Hide and seek

November 24, 2011
Tagged as: antigen, Brugia, epitope, molecular mimicry, parasite, parasitism, Plasmodium, schistosome

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson review an in silico pipeline for identifying molecular mimicry candidate proteins in the genomes of parasites, and catch up on listener email.

Download TWiP #33 (63 MB .mp3, 88 minutes).

Links for this episode:

Molecular mimicry candidates in parasites (PLoS One)
Letters read on TWiP 33

Contact

Send your questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv

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Episodes

TWiP 32: Evasive trypanosomes and schistosomes

November 8, 2011
Tagged as: cruzain, immune evasion, nfkappab, parasite, parasitism, protease, schistosome, tetraspanin, trypanosome

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss immune evasion by the cruzain protease of T. cruzi, and novel tetraspanin antigens of S. japonicum.

Download TWiP #32 (65 MB .mp3, 90 minutes).

Links for this episode:

NF-kappaB: Nuclear Factor binding kappa enhancer in B cells
Immune evasion by T. cruzi cruzain (PLoS Pathogens)
Novel tetraspanins in S. japonicum (Acta Tropica)
Intravenously administered malaria vaccine (Science)
TWiP on trypanosomes (#15) and schistosomes (#26)
Monsters Inside Me
Futures in Biotech with Dr. Jack Horner, advisor for Jurassic Park
Dickson’s Pick: Labcoats in Hollywood by David Kirby
Letters read on TWiP 32

Contact

Send your questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv

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

Episodes

TWiP 31 – A malaria vaccine

October 21, 2011
Tagged as: circumsporozoite, malaria, parasite, parasitism, twip, vaccine

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss the promising results of a phase III trial of a malaria vaccine in African children

Download TWiP #31 (50 MB .mp3, 70 minutes).

Links for this episode:

First results of RTS,S/AS01 phase III trial (NEJM)
Development of RTS,S/AS malaria candidate vaccine (Vaccine)
Chandler’s dog images (one, two – jpg)
Schistosomiasis hieroglyphics (pdf)
TWiP on malaria (#9, #10, #11)
Letters read on TWiP 31

Contact

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Episodes

TWiP 30: Global infectious disease control with Charles Knirsch

September 15, 2011
Tagged as: antimicrobial, antiviral, charles knirsch, parasite, parasitism, twip

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson have a broad-ranging conversation with Charles Knirsch of Pfizer, Inc. about how public-private partnerships can function to control and eliminate infectious diseases.