Immunity and immune modulation in parasitic helminth infection
Around one quarter of the global population is infected with a parasitic worm (helminth) leading to a range of different diseases. These cause chronic infections that can last for many years which reflects the ability of the worm to manipulate the host immune response to promote their longevity.
Around one quarter of the global population is infected with a parasitic worm (helminth) leading to a range of different diseases. These cause chronic infections that can last for many years which reflects the ability of the worm to manipulate the host immune response to promote their longevity.
Our research focuses on schistosomes which cause the disease schistosomiasis and infects hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil and SE Asia. We investigate how these worms alter immune responses; immune cell development and mature immune cell function, test the impact on immune responses to other challenges; eg vaccines, and assess putative parasite immune modulators as protective targets.
