Parasite infections and nutritional scarcity are common threats to the wellbeing of wild populations and domestic animals. Chronic helminth infections in particular compete with their hosts for nutritional resources, modulate their hosts immune response, and are a global cause of productivity loss in livestock, estimated at £1.2 billion annually. Despite the importance of parasitic infection in livestock and wild populations, our understanding of how the host’s immune system mounts and regulates its responses to infection under variable nutrition is limited. So far, a major limitation to studying these associations has been the lack of suitable host-parasite systems. In particular, if we want to tease apart the environmental and demographic factors that drive both infection and immune responses, we need a system in which we can carry out experimental manipulations of parasite infection and food availability both in wild populations and in laboratory settings, with detailed immunological read-outs and natural host-parasite combinations. We have established a lab-to-wild mouse—parasite community system in order to tease apart the consequences of infection for host health and fitness. Wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) are a common small mammal in the UK and support a diverse community of helminths (nematodes and cestodes), protozoa, viruses, and bacteria. We have developed the microscopy, immunological and molecular tools to identify >30 unique species, antigen-specific antibodies, and the transcriptome that allows detailed study of immune gene expression. Additionally, we have a wild-derived wood mouse colony and wild-collected parasites/pathogens, with which we can pair infection/coinfection experiments and vary diets, allowing us to measure and compare immune responses in controlled settings with those in the wild. The key goals of this interdisciplinary project will use this lab-to-wild system to:
a. Determine how nutritional quality and quantity impact the immune response to helminth infection
b. Experimentally investigate how key environmental factors (e.g., coinfection, gut microbiota) and demographic factors (i.e., age, sex, reproductive condition) impact the relationship between nutrition and immunity
c. Use novel tools from machine learning and structural causal modelling to identify causal links between nutritional availability, immune responses to infection, and resistance to parasite infection.
This project is ideal for a student who wants to work at the interface of infection biology, disease ecology, immunology and statistical ecology. The candidate will gain a range of transferable skills, including expertise in field and laboratory work in small mammals, experimental design, immunological and parasitological assays, transcriptomics/bioinformatics, and statistical analysis.
https://pedersen.bio.ed.ac.uk
https://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/bahcm/staff/simonbabayan/
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