In February 2018, the BCHC were delighted to host a 1-day visit by Prof. Russell Stothard, Chair in Medical Parasitology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Russell delivered a fascinating seminar on the control of helminthiases in Africa and drew attention to a link between schistosomiasis and the spread of HIV in Africa. Thank-you…
Exciting collaboration between BCHC and the Oxford Protein Production Facility
A BCHC PhD student, Gilda Padalino, recently returned from a trip to Oxford where she was working in collaboration with Professor Ray Owens at the Oxford Protein Production Facility (OPPF). Their aim was to express some of the enzymes involved in histone methylation in Schistosoma mansoni the parasite responsible for the human disease Schistosomiasis. Large…
There’s gold on them there vesicles!
As part of the BCHC’s focus on extra-cellular vesicles (EV) in helminthology we recently hosted a visit from Allan Cameron, a 4th year PhD student from the Devitt Laboratory, Aston University. Allan is researching the role of apoptotic cell derived extracellular vesicles (ACdEV) on the immune system. He visited Aberystwyth University to utilise the expertise…
Analytics for studying helminth EVs
In July 2017, the BCHC was privileged to host a visit by the Chief Executive Officer of Exosomics Siena SpA, Dr Antonio Chiesi, and its Senior Scientist, Dr Davide Zocco. Exosomics was originally founded as a spin-out company of HansaBioMed, but has recently received significant strategic investment by Lonza, a global leader in the field…
A new collaboration for the BCHC and University of Cambridge
In late June, the BCHC were delighted to host a 1-day visit by Dr Cinzia Cantacessi and Dr Laura Peachey of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Dr Cantacessi and Dr Peachey are working to identify microbial populations in the gastrointestinal tract of parasite-infected horses and the changes that occur after drug treatment. In…
Building new partnerships with Edinburgh’s two Synthetic Biology Centres
The BCHC has today hosted a fantastic visit by Professor Susan Rosser, Dr Liz Fletcher and Dr Gaynor Campbell of the SynthSys Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology and the UK Centre for Mammalian Synthetic Biology. Susan, Liz and Gaynor delivered a series of talks on the role, capability and technical specialisms of the two…
Exposing the link between helminth infection and TB-susceptibility
What an exciting month for immunology research! May 2017 saw the BCHC hosting a very-interesting one-week visit by Dr Stephen Cose, Senior Immunologist from the MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS. As part of his permanent secondment from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Dr Steve Cose is Senior Immunologist to the MRC…
BCHC’s visting Expert-in-Residence, Dr Ron Hokke, appointed Professor at LUMC
The BCHC is celebrating the recent appointment of visiting Expert-in-Residence, Dr. Cornelis C. (Ron) Hokke, as Professor at the Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), the Netherlands. Although based at LUMC since 2000, this award recognises Dr Hokke’s years of dedication to the international research community in the fields of glycobiology (known as…
Not one, but TWO exciting guest visits to the BCHC in March!
March was a busy month at the BCHC for exploring new collaborations and pushing on the UK’s national research portfolio in helminthology. At the beginning of the month, Prof. Mark Viney visited the Centre from Bristol University to share his knowledge on parasitic nematodes, delivering an excellent talk and generating some interesting discussions on what…
Dr Floriano Paes Silva Junior visits the BCHC
In February 2017, the BCHC was delighted to host a visit by by Dr Floriano Paes Silva Junior, Associate Researcher and Head of the Laboratory of Experimental and Computational Biochemistry of Drugs at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Brazil. Floriano’s areas of expertise are bio-organic & medicinal chemistry and structural bioinformatics & molecular modelling and his…