Parasites@York
York is an international leader in research on diseases caused by parasitic infections, including Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
Here at York we focus on four main diseases; malaria, and NTDs - leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, and schistosomiasis. NTDs are most prevalent in tropical areas, specifically low and middle income countries (LMICs). They are often diseases of poverty and affect over 1 billion people.
Contact us
York Biomedical Research Institute
ybri@york.ac.uk
B/H/002, Department of Biology, Wentworth Way, University of York, York, YO10 5NG
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Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a diverse collection of diseases caused by over 20 different species of Leishmania parasite. They affect approximately 150 million people in 98 countries. There are three main forms of the disease: visceral leishmaniasis, a form that is deadly if not treated; cutaneous leishmaniasis that presents as skin lesions and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, which affects the mucosa. Transmission of the protozoan parasite occurs through bites from infected female phlebotomine sand flies.
Leishmania mexicana promastigote expressing membrane mCherry, imaged by live fluorescence microscopy.
Credit: Elmarie Myburgh
Key Researchers
Dr Nicola Baker is a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award Fellow in the Department of Biology. Her research focus is on pathology biology and disease transmission.
Professor Paul Kaye is a Professor of Immunology at Hull York Medical School. His lab focuses on the immunopathology of leishmaniasis, with emphasis both on exploring opportunities for developing novel vaccines, host-directed therapies and also for gaining new insight into myeloid cell function.
Professor Jeremy Mottram is Professor of pathogen biology and current Director of York Biomedical Research Institute. His research interests focus on the molecular genetics, cell biology and biochemistry of parasitic protozoa.
Dr Elmarie Myburgh is a Lecturer in Immunology and Infection at Hull York Medical School. Her research is related to host-pathogen interactions, immunoregulation and drug discovery.
Dr Natalie Prow is a Research Fellow in Vaccinology at Hull York Medical School. Her research is focused on identifying new therapeutic targets for drug and vaccine development.
Dr Pegine Walrad is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biology. Her research centres on regulators of Leishmania parasite differentiation, with emphasis on post-transcriptional control as the primary mode of gene regulation.
Dr Daniel Jeffares is a Lecturer in Computational Microbiology in the Department of Biology. His research is focused on molecular evolution, molecular epidemiology and quantitative genetics of microbes. He aims to understand the interaction between evolutionary processes, demographic change and molecular biology, including host-parasite interactions.
Dr Katrien Van Bocxlaer is a Lecturer in Skin Research at Hull York Medical School. Her research interest focuses on drug delivery to the skin affected by infectious pathogens.
Professor Tony Wilkinson is a Professor based in the York Structural Biology Lab, Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on the structural analysis of proteins involved in cell fate and disease processes. One of his current projects focuses on enzymes of post-translational modification systems which constitute potential drug targets against Leishmania.
Dr Laurence Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology. His research interests are in biophysics and bioengineering, in particular the development of new optical microscopy methods to study microorganisms. He applies these methods to the biophysics of propulsion in swimming microorganisms.
Active funding:
Dioraphte, European Commission, Medical Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation, Wellcome Trust.
Trypanosomiasis
Trypanosoma parasites cause deadly diseases in both humans and economically important livestock animals. They are primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. At York we focus on the parasites that are responsible for African Sleeping Sickness, a chronic illness leading to invasion of the central nervous system; Chagas disease, which left untreated results in heart disease in 45% of those infected; and Nagana which causes over 3 million cattle deaths per year.
Fluorescence microscopy image captured with Zeiss LSM980 Airyscan 2: Trypanosoma brucei bloodstream forms possess a dense coat on their surface formed by millions of molecules of their variant surface glycoprotein (VSG, magenta), which they are able to periodically switch to evade the host immune system. DNA is depicted in green.
Credit: Joana Faria
Key Researchers
Dr Joana Faria is a Wellcome Trust / Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow based within the Department of Biology. She is interested in genetic mechanisms underpinning antigenic variation, a key virulence mechanism that allows African trypanosomes to alter the identity of proteins displayed to the host immune system. More broadly, her lab is interested in how nuclear bodies and genome architecture shape the gene expression landscape in Trypanosomatids.
Dr Mathieu Cayla is an MRC Career Development Award Fellow based within the Department of Biology. His research focus is on the signalling pathways that regulate autophagy and lysosome exocytosis in the parasite life-cycle and host adaptation.
Dr Damian Perez Mazliah is a Royal Society University Research Fellow in Hull York Medical School. His lab studies B cell and antibody responses to the response to Trypanosoma cruzi. To shed light on the mechanisms that regulate B cell responses to these diseases, and open the door to novel immune therapies and biomarkers to aid in the control of these diseases.
Professor Gavin Wright is a Professor of Microbial Biochemistry in Hull York Medical School and the Department of Biology. His research is centred on taking large scale systematic extracellular receptor protein interaction screens to identify host-pathogen interactions that are important for the pathology of infections. His research has identified leading vaccine candidates for malaria and trypanosomiasis.
Active funding:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medical Research Council, The Royal Society, Wellcome Trust
Schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a chronic infection caused by trematode worms in Africa, South America and South East Asia. There is no vaccine and control relies on a single drug to which resistance is appearing. Transmission occurs when people infected with schistosome parasites contaminate freshwater sources with faeces or urine containing parasite eggs. We study the Schistosoma mansoni that causes intestinal schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis mainly affects poor and rural communities with an estimated 200 – 400 million people infected.
Key Researchers
Dr Cecile Crosnier is an MRC Career Development Award Fellow in the Department of Biology. Her research is focused on identifying host:parasite interactions involved in immune modulation as well as parasite antigens that are the targets of protective immunity to develop them as vaccines.
Dr James Hewitson is a Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences within the Department of Biology. His lab focuses on mammalian immune responses to parasitic worm infections and the resulting changes in haematopoietic stem cells (HSC).
Active funding:
Medical Research Council
Malaria
With nearly 250 million clinical cases recorded every year leading to over 600,000 deaths, malaria remains one of the leading causes of human mortality on the planet. Although there has been encouraging news in the development of new drugs and vaccines, the number of deaths due to malaria has increased in recent years. At York, we are using our expertise in identifying extracellular host-parasite interactions to discover new vaccine targets and elucidate at a molecular level how the parasites that cause malaria manipulate host immunity.
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Anopheles stephensi female taking a blood meal
Credit: Ray Wilson
Key Researchers
Professor Gavin Wright is a Professor of Microbial Biochemistry in Hull York Medical School and the Department of Biology. He is applying large scale extracellular protein interaction screens to identify host-pathogen interactions that are critical for disease pathology and thereby reveal targets for therapeutic intervention.
Dr Cecile Crosnier is an MRC Career Development Award Fellow in the Department of Biology. Her research is focused on identifying parasite antigens that are the targets of protective immunity to develop them as vaccines.
Contact us
York Biomedical Research Institute
ybri@york.ac.uk
B/H/002, Department of Biology, Wentworth Way, University of York, York, YO10 5NG
Twitter