Drugs, hormones and developmental plasticity in Schistosoma mansoni and Dirofilaria immitis
Special seminar by Thavy Long, PhD, Institut National de Recherche Agronomique, INTHERES-UMR1436, Toulouse, France
Hormones control diverse processes in the physiology of metazoan organisms. Many of them exercise their function via nuclear receptors, which function as transcription factors that regulate the expression of numerous genes. In Caenorhabditis elegans, dafachronic acids (DAs) influence fundamental signaling pathways involved in development, reproduction and lifespan. However, the physiological significance of these hormones in parasitic helminths such as filarial nematodes and particularly trematodes is relatively rudimentary. In Dirofilaria immitis Long found that DAs activate the nuclear receptor DAF-12 and have investigated their potential to regulate the parasite development. Her work furthers our understanding of the developmental decisions in filarial nematodes and provide new insights to interrupt their life cycle.
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Thavy Long received her Master’s degree in Genetic and Microbiology and PhD in Parasitology and Cellular Biology from the University of Lille, in France. She did postdoctoral work at both University of California San Francisco and San Diego. She was named a Prestige Marie Curie Fellowship (2016). Her research focuses on the basic biology of parasitic flatworms and filarial nematodes with a particular interest on hormonal signaling pathways that influence the developmental plasticity of these parasites.
Everyone is welcome to attend.