Tom Pennance

Our paper measuring gene expression of Biomphalaria sudanica candidate immune genes across snails of different susceptibilities and in response to schistosome exposure and diet published in Journal of Helminthology this past week: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Recommended reading @wheelerlab.bio! Experimental work using schistosomes is challenging, and therefore procedures simplifying and maximising parasite yield is vital and often used. However, we must acknowledge and accommodate for how these processes impact worm biology, as detailed here!🪱

Microbiology and infectious diseases This page highlights recent articles on all aspects of bacteriology, mycology, parasitology and virology, covering the biology of pathogens, host-pathogen ...

And great to see our snail paper included in the Nature Communications Editors’ Highlights! www.nature.com/collections/...

Great post Jacob, I personally loved the analogies of Hitchcock characters & footballs! It is hard to not think of the Cristiani effect (and 'Force D') as just categories of 'chance', but then so is genetic drift... It is conceptually quite hard to think with these 3rd and 4th dimensions (forces)!

Cristiani Returns The Anthropic Principle explains certain observations about the physical world: that we could not be here observing them if things were otherwise. Several different related concepts have been calle…

Not the main point of this post of course, but I really do like viewing fitness as gravity pulling something down as opposed to the classic metaphor of climbing a peak.
adaptivediversity.wordpress.com/2025/08/05/c...

Job Opportunity at LSHTM: Research Fellow We are seeking to hire a Research Fellow to join a recently funded exciting EDCTP clinical trials group for the next 3-4 years involving 5 sub-Saharan African partners and 5 European partners aiming t...

Job opportunity for a Research Fellow at LSHTM in the Schistosomiasis Research Group: jobs.lshtm.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

What recreating Scott’s Antarctic expedition reveals about our seas today A new polar project compared samples with those collected more than a century ago by by Scott, along with voyages led by Shackleton and Borchgrevink

Great to see my friend/colleague Hugh Carter's work given the spotlight here! I wish I could test some tests, just to say I'v done that... www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Quantitative ethology of schistosome miracidia characterizes a conserved snail peptide that inhibits penetration Over 700 million people are at risk of contracting schistosomiasis due to regular exposure to freshwater sources where infected snails, the obligate intermediate hosts of schistosomes, are endemic. Al...

Very excited and proud to release a project that I’ve been thinking about for at least 7 years, well before I started my faculty position. We built an imaging and computational platform from the ground up to help answer some outstanding questions in schistosome miracidia biology.

Life cycle of Schistosoma mansoni from https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bugbitten/

Schistosomiasis is a human disease from worms spread by snails. I and others have long studied Latin American snails B. glabrata to find genomic regions affecting schisto resistance. But most schisto occurs in Africa, transmitted by other snails. Now with @schistosoma.bsky.social we address this…

Genes linked to schistosome resistance identified in a genome-wide association study of African snail vectors - Nature Communications A genome wide association study of an African vector of schistosomiasis revealed two genomic regions associated with resistance to Schistosoma mansoni. These findings will inform novel control strateg...

New research w/ @jacobphd.bsky.social et al. published today in Nature Communications: Genes linked to schistosome resistance identified in a genome-wide association study of African snail vectors doi.org/10.1038/s414... 🐌🪱🧬

Parasite evolution and impact in action: assessing the importance of hybrid schistosomes in Africa | Royal Society Science+ meeting organised by Professor J Russell Stohard, Professor Janelisa Musaya, Dr Alexandra Juhasz, and Dr Lucas Cunningham

All talks recorded from @royalsociety.org meeting on hybrid schistosomes now available online. "Parasite evolution and impact in action: assessing the importance of hybrid schistosomes in Africa":
royalsociety.org/science-even...

New paper investigating the mating system of Biomphalaria sudanica, a vector of Schistosoma mansoni that seems to preferentially outcross given the option.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

wait, @britishecolsoc.bsky.social I thought you'd "agreed steps to make sure this doesn't happen again" 🫠

Determining accurate intramolluscan schistosome infections is complicated, and can impact downstream analysis. In our paper just published, we have tried to lay out some of the possible outcomes of snail-parasite exposure with a diagnostic PCR assay meridian.allenpress.com/journal-of-p...

New samples and data point towards imported Schistosoma bovis infections in cattle on Unguja Island, Zanzibar, in the preprint from @russstothard.bsky.social and colleagues: www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5...

Assistant or Associate Professor of Biology – Robert L. Rausch Chair, MSB Curator of Parasites We invite applications for an endowed professorship, the Robert L. Rausch Chair of Parasitology. The Chair will be an Assistant or Associate Professor...

Job opportunity: Assistant or Associate Professor of Parasitology at @unm.bsky.social - fantastic opportunity for those interested in parasite natural history collections, ecology, evolution, systematics and teaching and training - and surrounded by a greta group! unm.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Looking forward to using blue sky!
Happy to see many friends and colleagues already here!
I will probably regret not chosing my name for my handle, but the temptation, and then the hard decision to make between, choosing either schistosoma, bulinus and biomphalaria was too much.

YouTube video by SwissTPH Documentary: Schistosomiasis research and interventions in Pemba, Tanzania

Interested in Schisto research and interventions? 🪱 For >15 years, @swisstph.bsky.social 🇨🇭 and the Public Health Lab - IdC 🇹🇿 conducted research and implemented interventions in Pemba, TZ, now approaching elimination.
📽 Watch our new documentary here showing these efforts: youtu.be/sGwnGLug-Aw?...