Roundworm News and Research

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Roundworm infection, or toxocariasis, is a zoonotic disease — a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Dogs and cats are the definitive hosts for the roundworm species that commonly cause human disease.

Researchers produce extremely accurate and detailed images of "toxic injections"

Bacteria have developed many different ways of smuggling their toxic cargo into cells. Tripartite Tc toxin complexes, which are used by bacteria like the plague pathogen Yersinia pestis and the insect pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens, are particularly unusual.

25 Feb 2014

Researchers develop new model for isolating effects of nutrients on gene expression, physiology

Everyday our cells take in nutrients from food and convert them into the building blocks that make life possible. However, it has been challenging to pinpoint exactly how a single nutrient or vitamin changes gene expression and physiology.

14 Feb 2014

Albert Einstein College professor receives AAAS 2013 Newcomb Cleveland Prize

A study describing the complete wiring diagram for the part of the nervous system that controls mating behavior in male roundworms was chosen as the most outstanding paper published in Science in the year June 2012 to May 2013.

13 Feb 2014

Male roundworms shorten the lifespan of females, say Stanford researchers

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that males of the laboratory roundworm secrete signaling molecules that significantly shorten the lifespan of the opposite sex.

29 Nov 2013

Vitamin pills can do more harm than good

Vitamin supplements are a billion-dollar industry. We want to stay healthy and fit and help our bodies with this. But perhaps we are achieving precisely the opposite?

26 Nov 2013

Researchers identify gene that orchestrates important branching of nerve fibers

Our ability to detect heat, touch, tickling and other sensations depends on our sensory nerves. Now, for the first time, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified a gene that orchestrates the crucially important branching of nerve fibers that occurs during development. The findings were published online today in the journal Cell.

11 Oct 2013

Biologists discover quality check system for neurons

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have identified a new component of the cellular mechanism by which humans and animals automatically check the quality of their nerve cells to assure they're working properly during development.

5 Sep 2013

Researchers uncover evidence that Richard III had roundworm infection

Researchers based at the University of Cambridge and the University of Leicester have uncovered evidence that Richard III suffered from a roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) infection, according to a Clinical Picture published in The Lancet.

4 Sep 2013

Research may shed light on what causes people to suffer from life-threatening anxiety disorders

New research at Rutgers University may help shed light on how and why nervous system changes occur and what causes some people to suffer from life-threatening anxiety disorders while others are better able to cope.

20 Aug 2013

Researchers discover an important mechanism that regulates proteasome activity

Dysfunction of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) has been detected in many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and certain types of cancer. Such dysfunction is also believed to be related to some degenerative muscle diseases. Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, have now discovered an important mechanism that regulates proteasome activity.

1 Jul 2013

Research findings shed light on how neurons translate sensory input into actions

New research by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School shows at the single cell level how an external stimulus sets off a molecular chain reaction in the transparent roundworm C. elegans, a process in which a single neurotransmitter coordinates and times two separate actions.

3 Apr 2013

New research shows how metabolism and physiology are connected to diet

Sometimes you just can't resist a tiny piece of chocolate cake. Even the most health-conscious eaters find themselves indulging in junk foods from time to time. New research by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School raises the striking possibility that even small amounts of these occasional indulgences may produce significant changes in gene expression that could negatively impact physiology and health.

30 Mar 2013

Cell phone microscope can detect intestinal worm infections in children

Scientists working in rural Tanzania have used a simple US$8 glass lens, a strip of double-sided tape, and a cheap flashlight to convert an Apple iPhone into a field microscope that can successfully detect intestinal worm infections in children, according to a study published online today by the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

12 Mar 2013

Princeton metabolic model can predict how parasites would fare in altered climates

Knowing the temperatures that viruses, bacteria, worms and all other parasites need to grow and survive could help determine the future range of infectious diseases under climate change, according to new research.

27 Feb 2013

Germ cell removal may promote longevity

The gonad is well known to be important for reproduction but also affects animal life span. Removal of germ cells - the sperm and egg producing cells - increases longevity of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms were a mystery. Now scientists at the Cologne-based Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, have discovered that germ cell removal flips a "molecular switch" that extends the life span by using components of a "developmental clock".

18 Dec 2012

Arthrobotrys oligospora produces nanoparticles that could kill tumors

Arthrobotrys oligospora doesn't live a charmed life; it survives on a diet of roundworm. But a discovery by a team led by Mingjun Zhang, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, could give the fungus's life more purpose-as a cancer fighter.

5 Dec 2012

New way to protect neurons that express mutant huntingtin proteins

By using a model, researchers at the University of Montreal have identified and "switched off" a chemical chain that causes neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and dementia. The findings could one day be of particular therapeutic benefit to Huntington's disease patients. "We've identified a new way to protect neurons that express mutant huntingtin proteins," explained Dr. Alex Parker of the University of Montreal's Department of Pathology and Cell Biology and its affiliated CRCHUM Research Centre.

27 Nov 2012

Global development partners meet in Washington to discuss NTD control efforts

"'Hundreds of millions of children and adults in Africa live at risk of disfigurement, impaired development, blindness, and even death from seven major preventable so-called neglected tropical diseases [NTDs], including river blindness, elephantiasis, trachoma, and various types of intestinal parasites,' said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the opening of a November 16-18 conference in Washington D.C.: Uniting to Combat NTDs: Translating the London Declaration into Action," the World Bank reports in an article on its webpage.

20 Nov 2012

Caltech biologists gain new insight into migrating cells

At any given moment, millions of cells are on the move in the human body, typically on their way to aid in immune response, make repairs, or provide some other benefit to the structures around them. When the migration process goes wrong, however, the results can include tumor formation and metastatic cancer. Little has been known about how cell migration actually works, but now, with the help of some tiny worms, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have gained new insight into this highly complex task.

21 Sep 2012

Stowers investigators define factors that regulate size of cellular fat pools

As the national waistline expands, so do pools of intra-cellular fat known as lipid droplets. Although most of us wish our lipid droplets would vanish, they represent a cellular paradox: on the one hand droplets play beneficial roles by corralling fat into non-toxic organelles. On the other, oversized lipid droplets are associated with obesity and its associated health hazards.

30 Aug 2012