SPPIRIT Network

Coming up: Postdoctoral fellowship mini-workshop as a part of the SPPIRIT Forum series. EMBO, Marie Curie, and Wellcome Early Career fellows will share their advice on fellowship applications.

Join us at 12 noon on Thursday 14th November!

Register at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Cryptosporidium oocyst wall proteins are true components of the oocyst wall and COWP8 is not required for parasite transmission Author summary Infection with Cryptosporidium causes diarrhoea, which can be fatal for malnourished children or people who are immunocompromised. There is no vaccine or effective medicines available t...

Incredibly proud to share that our work on Cryptosporidium Oocyst Wall Proteins is published in
@PLOSPathogens
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Led by previous PhD student
@BacchettiRoss
and carried on by current PhD student, Sarah Stevens.

Join the next TrypsClub Journal Club with our former committee member Dr Kirsty McWilliam, who will be chatting about her latest trypanosome work! 🔬🧬

Hi Anna, you should receive the link via email very soon 🙂

📢 Just 1 month to go until our SPPIRIT ECR symposium

📝 Abstract deadline extended to 10 October 2025 - don’t miss out!

Hostbusters: SPPIRITed to Roslin Bringing together ECR parasitologists from across Scotland to network and showcase their science.

📢 7 weeks to go until our SPPIRIT symposium

A fantastic opportunity for ECR parasitologists across Scotland to network and showcase their research.

🗓️ 31 October 2025 | 📍 Roslin Institute, Edinburgh
🎟️ Free to attend → tinyurl.com/3yzjnm5h

Secure your spot today!

A composite image of Professor Rick Maizles in the lab on the left, and the Freethink* logo with a microscopic image of Caenorhabditis elegans directly below, and the article title: 'We purged worms from our bodies - and may have made ourselves sick' below that, on the right.

🆕 | @uofgsii.bsky.social's Professor Rick Maizels has been prominently featured in a fascinating Freethink* article exploring the surprising relationship between parasitic worms and the human immune system.

👉 Full story: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infe...

🗞️ Article: www.freethink.com/biotech/worm...

Save the dates!! @bspparasitology.bsky.social Spring Meeting 2026 will be in Bonnie Glasgow! 7-9 April 2026, with a drinks reception in Glasgow City Chambers on the 6th of April 2026!
Keep an eye on the BSP website for registration and abstract submission!
Logo by @shannaraeilean.bsky.social! 🦟

Our next Parents of Parasites meeting is coming up! ☕👶

Being a parent in academia can feel isolating - join our virtual coffee break to connect, share experiences, and support each other.

📅 22nd September
🕒 2:00 PM

👉 SPPIRIT members: check your inbox
👉 Non-members: email or DM us to join

Don't miss the chance to learn from an industry expert in drug discovery and connect with the Tryps Club community! 🌍✨

Leishmania major chromosomes are replicated from a single high-efficiency locus supplemented by thousands of lower efficiency initiation events DNA replication initiates at genome sites termed origins. Previous origin mapping approaches in the populations of the protozoan parasite Leishmania m…

We’re pleased to share our new study, led by @jezieldamasceno.bsky.social, that used long-read, single molecule sequencing to reveal the full (?) picture of Leishmania DNA replication. Thanks, Mike Boemo and helpful reviewers @uofgsii.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🚨NEW PAPER🚨 We've already shown mosquito infections vary by time-of-day, here we test whether infection of mice FROM mosquitoes vary in a rhythmic manner. We test this in untreated & drug treated mice as some fitness consequences are only apparent in stressful environments doi.org/10.1186/s130...

The paper we will discuss:
bmcmethods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Only one week left until SPPIRIT Forum meeting! Join us to discuss recent work on mosquito tissue ultrastructure-expansion microscopy for malaria research, and ask questions to the 1st author, @benliffner.bsky.social, who will join us!
For meeting link fill in: tinyurl.com/3j5ewezv

My attempt to become a professor was unsuccessful again but the diplonema tagging paper is now published in Open Biology. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

T cell responses in repeated controlled human schistosome infection compared to natural exposure - Nature Communications In schistosomiasis-endemic regions, the cyclical nature of infection and treatment complicates understanding of host immune responses. Repeated controlled human Schistosoma mansoni infection, designed...

A real pleasure to be a part of this beautiful new study on T cell responses in repeat controlled human infection vs natural infection with #schistosomes, spearheaded by @emmahoulder.bsky.social with many wonderful colleagues #helminths #ImmunoSky #IDSky 🪱 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mosquito Tissue Ultrastructure-Expansion Microscopy (MoTissU-ExM) enables ultrastructural and anatomical analysis of malaria parasites and their mosquito - BMC Methods Background Study of malaria parasite cell biology is challenged by their small size, which can make visualisation of individual organelles difficult or impossible using conventional light microscopy. ...

On our first meeting on the 22nd of August, we will discuss an exciting recent study on ultrastructure-expansion microscopy of mosquito tissue for malaria research. Looking forward seeing you there! bmcmethods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

The SPPIRIT Forum SPPIRIT would like to invite you to join our series of meetings - the SPPIRIT Forum! The forum is a platform where we will discuss parasitology, funding applications, experimental methods, and other t...

We would like to invite you to join our brand new SPPIRIT Forum! This series of online meetings aims to bring parasitologists together to discuss science, funding opportunities, etc.
For more info, join our mailing list: tinyurl.com/3j5ewezv

🚨 Postdoc alert! Our former committee member @macleanlab.bsky.social is looking for a postdoc to work on Toxoplasma metabolism in his lab. Great opportunity to do cool science in a beautiful city! 🧪🤝

MMV announces new partnership using AI-powered image analysis to accelerate malaria drug discovery | Medicines for Malaria Venture MMV announces new partnership using AI-powered image analysis to accelerate malaria drug discovery. The platform will improve identification of compounds with novel modes of action that can help comba...

MMV, @LPIXEL_Inc & @dundeeuni are partnering to accelerate #malaria drug discovery using advanced AI-powered image analysis. This partnership aims to develop a platform that could shave months off the process of screening & selecting compounds. Learn more: bit.ly/44Roq5o

Antitrypanosomal quinazolines targeting lysyl-tRNA synthetase show partial efficacy in a mouse model of acute Chagas disease Quinazolines targeting Trypanosoma cruzi lysyl-tRNA synthetase show partial efficacy in a mouse model of acute Chagas disease.

Delighted our latest paper is now published in Science Translational Medicine. Fantastic collab with Dr Avninder Bhambra and his team. Our studies reveal promising quinazolines selectively target KRS in T. cruzi. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@dundee.ac.uk

Structure–activity relationships of 1,5-dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]diazepine-2,4(3H)-diones as inhibitors of Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is responsible for a large health burden with around 6–8 million people infected globally. The current dru...

Great to have a latest #Chagas disease drug discovery paper published in @rsc.org MedChem: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

This work highlights how we decide to progress or terminate series, and hopefully provides some useful approaches and lessons.

@ddu-dundee.bsky.social 🧪 #NTD #drugdiscovery

Genomic evidence of spatially structured gene flow and divergent insecticide resistance backgrounds of the malaria vector Anopheles funestus in Tanzania Abstract. Population genetic analysis of mosquitoes is important for understanding the distribution of insecticide resistance alleles, devising sustainable

New paper led by Joel Odero from the #VectorsGlasgow team in @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk and #IfakaraHealthInstitute
⬇️
Genomic evidence of spatially structured gene flow and divergent insecticide resistance backgrounds of the malaria vector Anopheles funestus in Tanzania academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

🚨 Postdoc alert! Amazing opportunity to work on Toxoplasma with @youngtoxolab.bsky.social in Edinburgh. Check it out!

Precision-edited histone tails disrupt polycistronic gene expression controls in trypanosomes - Nature Communications Transcription in trypanosomatids, such as Trypanosoma brucei, is predominantly polycistronic and involves unconventional RNA polymerase II promoters. This study uses precision gene editing, site-satur...

I used inducible CRISPR/Cas9 to make Trypanosoma brucei cell line that allowed me to edit originally muti-copy histone gene. We uncovered a novel role of H4 histone tail in gene regulation. I enjoyed working on this exciting project with @joanarcf.bsky.social, a great mentor.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Precision-edited histone tails disrupt polycistronic gene expression controls in trypanosomes - Nature Communications Transcription in trypanosomatids, such as Trypanosoma brucei, is predominantly polycistronic and involves unconventional RNA polymerase II promoters. This study uses precision gene editing, site-satur...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nice to have been involved in this great study from the Horn Lab, driven by @marketanovotna.bsky.social ! Elegant application of CRISPR precision editing and saturation mutagenesis!

The Thienopyrimidinone Gamhépathiopine Targets the QO Site of Plasmodium falciparum Cytochrome b Chemotherapy remains a key component of the arsenal of tools to fight malaria. Specifically, new drugs with diverse mechanism(s) of action are required to combat existing drug resistance. Here, we des...

New paper alert! Enjoy!
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Drs Kyrie Dickson, Jaime Costales, Malgorzata Domagalska, Ferre Veken & Martin Llewellyn discuss #genome (dis)organisation in #Trypanosoma #cruzi: innovation through #instability? #Adaptation #Chagas #Aneuploidy #Trypanosomatids

www.cell.com/trends/paras...

SOX9 plays an essential role in myofibroblast driven hepatic granuloma integrity and parenchymal repair during schistosomiasis-induced liver damage Author summary Mammalian infection with schistosome worms results in the deposition of parasite eggs in the liver, where they secrete organ damaging toxins. In response, the liver generates a cellular...

Delighted to share our paper on the role of SOX9 in liver #fibrosis and #granuloma formation during #schistosome infection - a really great collaboration over the past few years with the Piper Hanley lab! #ImmunSky 🪱🧪

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

📢 Big Announcement: Registration & abstract submission open for EMBO Workshop "Host-Parasite Relationship: From Mechanisms to Control Strategies" organized by ParaFrap @parafrap.bsky.social @embo.org

🗓️ 5-8 Oct 2025 - Les Embiez Island-France

🔚Deadline: 15 Jul 2025 meetings.embo.org/event/25-hos...