This Week In Parasitism

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 Parasit) TWiP 13: Toxoplasmosis Image credit Letters read on TWiP 62 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email  

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 and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email  

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) Ancient parasite infections in Old World (pdf) Ascaris in coprolites (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Human intestinal parasites in the past (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Letters read on TWiP 61 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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 (Ann NY Acad Sci) P. lophurae (J Parasitol) TWiP infects TWiV (TWiV 248) Intravenous malaria vaccine (Science) Unconventional malaria vaccine (Science) Image of apicomplexan structure: Wikipedia Letters read on TWiP 59 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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, Parasites, and Plowshares by Dickson Despommier Letters read on TWiP 58 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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) Cyclosporiasis (Wikipedia) Cyclosporiasis outbreak, US (one, two, three) (ProMedMail) Cyclosporiasis outbreak moves to Texas (ProMedMail) Notifiable diseases, US, 2011 (CDC) Federal funding for science research (virology blog) Oculus of Singapore (YouTube) Dickson recording TWiP 57 (jpg) Dickson's stuff (jpg) People, Parasites, and Plowshares by Dickson Despommier Letters read on TWiP 57 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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 (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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) Letters read on TWiP 55 Dickson's Pick An Inordinate Fondess for Beetles by Arthur V. Evans, Charles L. Bellamy Listener Pick Jessie - Pandemic, the board game Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv

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

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 on TWiP #14 Letters read on TWiP 53 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv

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 (YouTube) Letters read on TWiP 52 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv

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 and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv

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 twip@twiv.tv

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) Tetraspanins Letters read on TWiP 48 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv. Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

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 falciparumusing 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 nucleases (Nature Methods) Zinc finger nucleases (Sigma-Aldrich) Gene-editing nucleases (Nature Methods) Illustration by Andrew Lee Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv.

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 #12 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv. Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed or by email

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 read on TWiP 44 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twip@twiv.tv.