This Week in Parasitism

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Health & Fitness
**This Week in Parasitism**

TWiP is a monthly netcast about eukaryotic parasites. Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier, science Professors from Columbia University, deconstruct parasites, how they cause illness, and how you can prevent infections.

Latest Episodes:

TWiP #8 - Frog legs and parasite tales Apr 22, 2010

Show notes

Dickson reads his story about sparganosis caused by the diphyllobothroid tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

Spirometra life cycle (jpg)
Dickson on vertical farming (CNN episode on YouTube, thanks Jesse!)
Laboratory identification of parasites (CDC, thanks Michael!)
Gold nanoparticles take out brain parasite (Cosmos Magazine, thanks Gary!)
Letters read on TWiP 8

TWiP #7 - Tapeworms are fantastic! Apr 09, 2010

Show notes

Vincent and Dickson continue their discourse on tapeworms, covering the fish and dog varieties.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

FAT the enemy that is shortening your life is BANISHED. How? With sanitized tapeworms. Easy to swallow! (jpg).
D. latum life cycle (jpg)
D. latum adult (jpg)
Diphyllobothrim proglottid (jpg)
Diphyllobothrim bothria (jpg)
Coracidium hatching from egg (jpg)
Dog tapeworm life cycle (jpg)
The Alien lifecycle (jpg)

TWiP #6 - Tapeworms, the long and short of it Mar 25, 2010

Show notes

Vincent and Dick talk about the anatomy and life cycle of beef and pork tapeworms, and why House was wrong about neurocysticercosis.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

Taenia saginata life cycle (jpg)
Taenia saginata adult (jpg)
Taenia saginata scolex (jpg)
Taenia saginata gravid proglottid (jpg)
Taenia solium life cycle (jpg)
Taenia solium adult (jpg)
Taenia solium scolex (jpg)
Facial cancer in Tasmanian devils (thanks PhogDog!)

Science Picks

Dickson Peace through vaccine diplomacy by Peter HotezVincent Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer

TWiP #5 - The nurse cell Mar 04, 2010

Show notes

Vincent and Dick discuss the nurse cell, a unique structure formed in the host muscle by Trichinella species.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

Infective muscle larva (jpg)
Schematic of a larva invading a muscle cell
Nurse cell formation (scroll down the page)
Dickson's gallery of Trichinella images
Electron micrographs of stichocytes

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson Every Living Thing by Rob Dunn

TWiP #4 - Trichinella life cycle Jan 30, 2010

Show notes

Vincent and Dick trace the life cycle of Trichinella spiralis in an infected host.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

Trichinella life cycle (jpg)
Newborn larva entering muscle cell (jpg)
Adult T. spiralis in columnar epithelial cell (jpg)
Adult female T. spiralis (jpg)
Infective first stage T. spiralis larva in Nurse cell in muscle tissue (jpg)
Adult female T. spiralis with fully formed larvae in uterus (jpg)
Adult male T. spiralis with claspers on tail (jpg)
Clinical correlations in trichinosis (jpg)
Letters read on TWiP #4

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson David Scharf's pictures of microbial lifeVincent The Nobel Laureate Meetings at Lindau

TWiP #3 - Trichinella spiralis Dec 27, 2009

Show notes

Vincent and Dick distinguish among intracellular and extracellular parasites, then discuss the history and general characteristics of Trichinella spiralis.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

The History of Trichinella at Trichinella.org
Parasite genome databases at the European Bioinformatics Institute
List of parasite genome projects

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson The Doctor and the Devils

TWiP #2 - General parasitism Dec 01, 2009

Show notes

Vincent and Dick classify parasites according to whether or not they are transmitted by a vector, then consider the implications of long-lived parasites.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier