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SUMMARY:Stem cell defects in in vitro cultured human parasites and alterna
 tive methods for understanding sexual development of schistosomes.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260210T143000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260210T153000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/1ff07f9e-d8a7-4d8e-911d-58b301a63ffa/
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Simon Kershenbaum (Department of Biology\, Evolutiona
 ry Biology)\n\nSchistosomes infect around 250 million people around the wo
 rld\, with chronic infections leading to debilitating disease. The patholo
 gy is largely driven by the eggs laid by fully mature female worms\, so un
 derstanding the mechanisms of sexual development in schistosomes may revea
 l novel targets to limit pathology. Beyond the public health implications\
 , investigating the mechanisms of sexual development in schistosomes is of
  evolutionary interest since most flatworms are hermaphroditic while schis
 tosomes are dioecious (have two separate sexes). However\, to date\, most 
 research into the development of schistosomes relies either on using mamma
 lian hosts\, which is both ethically and financially costly\, or in vitro 
 cultures using foetal bovine serum which does not allow the parasites to r
 each a sexually dimorphic stage. We recently showed that parasites can be 
 cultured from a sexually monomorphic stage to a sexually dimorphic stage u
 sing human serum instead of foetal bovine serum. This allows for the asses
 sment of sexual development in vitro. Comparing single-cell RNAseq librari
 es from parasites cultured in different media shows that key stem cell pop
 ulations are depleted in parasites cultured in foetal bovine serum\, sugge
 sting that despite its widespread use in both drug screening and research\
 , important developmental pathways are perturbed.  In light of these findi
 ngs\, we are currently shifting our in vitro experiments to human serum. W
 e are now investigating the earliest developmental differences between mal
 e and female schistosomes\, finding candidate transcription factors that m
 ay regulate sexual development in this human parasite.
LOCATION:Life and Mind Building\, Seminar Rooms 7&8 
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/1ff07f9e-d8a7-4d8e-911d-58b301a63ffa/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:Stem cell defects in in vitro cultured human parasites an
 d alternative methods for understanding sexual development of schistosomes
 .
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