TWiP 54: Unde venis?

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Created on Thursday, 23 May 2013 16:26

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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?

Download TWiP #54 (62 MB .mp3, 86 minutes).

Links for this episode:

• Blastocystis (Wikipedia)
• Blastocystis review (Trends Parasitol)
• People, Parasites, and Plowshares by Dickson Despommier
• Letters read on TWiP 54

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TWiP 53: Anti-saliva immunity

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Created on Saturday, 20 April 2013 21:49

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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.

Download TWiP #53 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes).

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

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TWiP 52: Not your ordinary unsegmented roundworm

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Created on Saturday, 16 March 2013 19:46

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson review the life cycle and pathogenesis of the giant kidney worm, Dioctophyme renale.

Download TWiP #52 (51 MB .mp3, 70 minutes).

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

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TWiP 51: Modifying mosquitoes with Anthony A. James

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Created on Saturday, 02 March 2013 15:47

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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.

Download TWiP #51 (52 MB .mp3, 72 minutes).

Links for this episode:

• Field cage studies of modified mosquitoes (PLoS NTD)
• Flightless mosquitoes (PNAS)
• When mutant mosquitoes attack (NY Times)

Contact

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TWiP 50: Antagonism in the mosquito midgut

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Created on Saturday, 16 February 2013 14:44

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson reveal how malaria parasites avoid lysis by complement in the mosquito.

Download TWiP #50 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes).

Links for this episode:

• Malaria parasites co-opt factor H (Cell Host Microbe)
• Complement system (Wikipedia)
• Letters read on TWiP 50

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TWiP 49: Making sense of toxo and heme

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Created on Saturday, 26 January 2013 15:49

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss innate immune sensing of Toxoplasma gondii in mice, and heme metabolism in protozoan parasites.

Download TWiP #49 (68 MB .mp3, 94 minutes).

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

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TWiP 48: A parasitic cloaking device

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Created on Saturday, 22 December 2012 05:00

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Yosef Sabo

Vincent, Dickson, and Yosef discuss tetraspanins on the surface of schistosomes as vaccine candidates and immune evasion proteins.

Download TWiP #48 (48 MB .mp3, 67 minutes).

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

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TWiP 47: For whom the trich tolls

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Created on Wednesday, 28 November 2012 15:08

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson review evidence that a virus of the protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis may exacerbate disease.

Right-click to download TWiP #47 (84 MB .mp3, 69 minutes).

Links for this episode:

• Endobiont viruses sensed by the human host (PLoS One)
• Letters read on TWiP 47

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TWiP 46: Malaria gets the (zinc) finger

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Created on Tuesday, 16 October 2012 19:34

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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 falciparum using 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

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TWiP 45: Free range Toxoplasma with John Boothroyd

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Created on Tuesday, 25 September 2012 19:58

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discuss Toxoplasma biology with Stanford University Professor John Boothroyd.

Right-click to download TWiP #45 (44 MB .mp3, 61 minutes).

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

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