Josh Richards

From “Trichuris muris as a tool for holistic discovery research: from translational research to environmental bio-tagging” Iris Mair, Kathryn J. Else And Ruth Forman Mair I, Else KJ, Forman R. Trichuris muris as a tool for holistic discovery research: from translational research to environmental bio-tagging. Parasitology. 2021;148(14):1722-1734. doi:10.1017/S003118202100069X

H is for Helminth

Isle of May mice are naturally infected with helminths - Trichuris muris (our favourite) alongside pinworms like Syphacia and more. These real-world infections shape a truly wild immune system.

It’s messy and complex but much closer to real life for studying immunity.

G is for Gut

We’re interested in every part of the gut, from the stomach down. We often find Trichuris in the large intestine of our wild mice, alongside a few other parasites.

Gut samples are stained for IHC, scored for adult worms, or stored in RNAlater for gene expression analysis.

F is for Fluke Street

Home to one of our grids and our base on the island. Originally built for lighthouse staff, the cottages now house researchers year-round.

Where did it get its name? Find out: isleofmaynnr.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/f...

Also, one of the best sunrise spots on the Isle of May.

Blood smears after being stained and scanned

The Axioscan 7 - which allows us to process 100 slides at a time - so we can make the most of our samples

These smears have many immune cells present, but the eosinophils really pop out with their bright pink granules.

E is for Eosinophil

We take small blood samples to track changes in leukocytes, focusing on eosinophils and their role in resistance to helminth infection.

Back in the lab, we stain our blood smears and use a slide scanner to find eosinophils and see how the immune response changes over time.

Northern Lights putting on a show last night. Low Light on the Isle of May.

Great presentations by Beth Sallis, @milliewright.bsky.social and Rowan Bancroft at the BSI congress 2025 @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social

Our feeders are placed in set locations and get a small logger taped to the front. Loggers read and log the tagged mice as they enter into the food source. Pink stones and stakes mark our logger location, with 10 on each grid - so plenty of diet to go around! These need refilled pretty regularly as the mice are very found of our high quality diet.

D is for Diet

How does diet shape immunity to helminth infection? We’d love to know!

Feeders are placed across our grids, with one grid given a high-quality supplement. Mice enter through a small hole (so no food for birds… or seals), and an RFID reader logs which tagged mice come in for a snack.

A grey seal relaxing on the Isle of May this afternoon. Bass Rock and Berwick Law looking glorious in the distance.

Rows of small labelled tubes containing mouse faecal samples, stacked in freezer storage boxes. These samples are used to measure cytokines in wild mouse poo, with hundreds stored and ready for analysis.

C is for Cytokines

The signalling molecules that tell the immune system what’s going on. As eco-immunologists, we’re especially interested in cytokine responses in our wild mice.

(And yes… C is also for Catan - our go-to evening entertainment when the work quietens down!)

B is for Box Logger

The unassuming black plastic tubs we place across our grids. Inside each one is a motion sensor and an RFID reader, letting us track our tagged mice as they scuttle around the island.

Anstruther Harbour - where every trip begins

In summer you’ll find us with the tourists - on the May Princess - one of the many boats that services the island

The famous Anstruther Fish Bar - where you’ll find us after our fieldwork is done!

A is for Anstruther

The small village on the east coast of Fife where every trip begins.

Famous for its chip shop, but for us it’s the harbour where we load our gear and start the 5 km (ish) crossing to the Isle of May.

Kicking off December with a new series of posts - an advent calendar for anyone who forgot to buy one!

An A–Z of Isle of May Fieldwork.

Each day I’ll share a little piece of what life and research look like on our tiny island in the Firth of Forth.

See thread below 🧵 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Anstruther Harbour

One of the many boats that brings us to the island. In summer you’ll find us with the tourists on the May Princess

The famous Anstruther Fish Bar

A is for Anstruther

The small village on the east coast of Fife where every trip begins.

Famous for its chip shop, but for us it’s the harbour where we load our gear and start the 5 km (ish) crossing to the Isle of May.

A hectic few days ahead as we wind down one of our trapping grids on the Isle of May. Lucky to be part of such a brilliant team of staff, students, and volunteers who make this project possible.

Sunrise on our Low Light grid

At least someone is getting some rest… A very calm day on the Isle of May - blue skies and bright winter sun. This pup enjoying an afternoon nap near Main Light.

And we’re off… an incredible first week of our winter season on the Isle of May.

First stint has been cut a day short with some bad weather rolling into the Forth, but the work’s in very safe hands - the remaining team still on the island are keeping things running smoothly. See you all next week!

(BBSRC NWD) Capillaria hepatica – a neglected and understudied zoonotic parasitic nematode at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - (BBSRC NWD) Capillaria hepatica – a neglected and understudied zoonotic parasitic nematode at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com

PhD opportunity working with me, Mark Viney, Iris Mair and Rowan Bancroft studying the Isle of May wild mice is open now! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Winter field season begins on the Isle of May 🐭🦭🎂
Seals, celebrations, and celebrity Traitors — not a bad first few days!

Here’s to the next 5 weeks with an amazing team.

@kathelse.bsky.social
@amypedersen.bsky.social
@steelyseabirder.bsky.social

We are back on the Isle of May for our final winter season of our BBSRC funded research exploring the effects of environment on immunity. Traps are out and we are having an evening by the fire @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social @profjudiallen.bsky.social

Remote camera on the Isle of May caught this young Grey Seal pup before it moved off

Back on the Isle of May after a great few days off! Stint 2 of 3 begins — fingers crossed the weather stays nice for us! 🌊🐭🌿

An amazing Week 1 on the Isle of May — busy days, lots of mice, and much more to come!
@kathelse.bsky.social
@amypedersen.bsky.social

Before the start of our day we have a “scrum” so that everyone on the team knows what to expect from the day and tasks can be assigned and ticked off once complete @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social

Bringing together the network - Edinburgh Infectious Diseases 14th Annual Symposium May 2025: On Friday 16 May colleagues gathered at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh for Edinburgh Infectious Diseases' 14th Annual Symposium. It was a successful day sharing research and bu...

🎉 Thank you to all who attended our 14th Symposium last Friday 🎉

It was an amazing day with plenty of interesting talks, community building, poster sessions and a wonderful Ker Memorial Prize Lecture delivered by Prof Andy Waters from @uofglasgow.bsky.social

Read full report: shorturl.at/EswNv

Vaccination against helminth IL-33 modulators permits immune-mediated parasite ejection The murine intestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hpb) modulates the host immune response via the Hpb alarmin release inhibitor (HpARI)…

🚨 New McSorley lab paper just out in Cell Reports!

Very happy to see this published - it has been a lot of work, and its turned into a really nice story.

In it, we show that HpARI+HpBARI can be used as vaccines

Tutorial thread below (1/16):

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