Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease responsible for a chronic disease burden equivalent to 2.6 million Disability Adjusted Life Years and over 11,000 human deaths annually. The disease is caused by an infection of parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. These worms can live for decades inside our vasculature laying hundreds of eggs a day, and it is the eggs that become trapped in our tissues that cause a granulomous response and the pathology.

Neuroscience of Infection

We investigate the nervous systems of the infectious larval stages of Schistosoma mansoni to understand how they integrate environmental cues to find and infect their hosts.

SEM images from the Collins Lab, UTSW

Host-Parasite Interactions

We use spatial transcriptomic techniques for Schistosoma mansoni, Biomphalaria glabrata (freshwater snail) and mammal tissues to understand interactions between the parasite and host at the cell and tissue levels.

Biological Rhythms

We investigate how Schistosoma mansoni entrains to its host’s rhythms and how this affects in-host survival and between-host transmission.