• Question: Why is parasites your biggest research if not why?

    Asked by ILuvScience to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 13 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Hi Iluvscience
      I was taught about parasites at University and immediately thought they were fascinating parasites. They affect both animals and humans and there are many opportunities for research. We can learn a lot about ourselves by studying parasites

    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      ILuvScience I do study a good mix of things: Allergy, Parasites, Microbes, but many of these things are connected with each other in complicated ways, for example one reason why there are more allergies nowadays than in the past (say when your parents or grandparents were children) is that we have less parasites, as some parasites protect against allergies.
      It is all a bit complicated but sometimes you have to study more than one topic to get the full picture, for example parasites and allergy. The good thing is that by studying one, you learn also about the other.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Hi again ILuvScience, right now parasites are my biggest research because, as a PhD student, we usually focus on only one key area of research. But it is also true that I find parasites fascinating … the diversity of their shapes and forms; the range of tactics they used to survive; the ancient-ness of them (there possibly are parasites for as long as there are living things on earth).

    • Photo: Linda Anagu

      Linda Anagu answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      @ILuvScience, parasites are certainly my biggest love now as I developed interest in them long ago, plus my sponsors will not have it any other way. Parasites are such fascinating and unique features, especially the endoparsite I work with. There is a lot we do not know about endo parasites, like malaria parasites, such as how they are able to survive within their hostile host and obtain nutrients to grow and multiply. I have worked on other parasites like fungi and other microorganisms like bacteria. In research, you tend to follow a trent so as to become a master in that particular area. You can indeed diversify but not too far off the main area.

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Parasites have been my biggest fascination in science so far. i find them fascinating for loads of reasons: 1) parasite infections are very common in people, for example I have worked with communities in which over half of the people that we collected samples from had at least one infection! For that reason, finding ways to better treat and cure parasitic infections would be a really effective way to improve global health, which is a basic requirement to make our world better; 2) the biology of parasites is really complicated, which means that there is loads to learn, explore and discover! This makes it fun and challenging to be a parasitologist, especially if you like problem solving like I do; 3) another big passion of mine is the immune system & studying parasites can help us to better understand how the immune system works. For example, schistosome eggs (produced by parasitic worms called schistosomes) contain molecules that generate a specific type of immune response, which means that we can use these molecules to artificially create this type of immune response and see what cells and immune mediators are involved. The same response is also involved in wound healing and allergies, so studying parasites can also help us to understand these processes too.

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