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Dr. Cecile Crosnier
MRC Career Development Award Fellow, Department of Biology, University of York, UK
Systematic approaches to study host-parasite interactions during Schistosoma mansoni infection
Cécile obtained a PhD in Human Genetics from Paris Diderot University before moving overseas to join Cancer Research UK London as a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellow to study the role of Notch signalling in intestinal cell differentiation. After joining the Wellcome Sanger Institute, her research interests shifted to global health and the study of host-pathogen interactions with a major focus on the Plasmodium falciparum and Schistosoma mansoni parasites. She moved to the University of York in 2021, where she is an MRC Career Development fellow investigating the mechanisms of host-parasite immune regulation during Schistosoma mansoni infection.
Her research group uses biochemical and cellular approaches to identify new host-parasite protein-protein interactions involved in immune modulation of the host, as well as serological studies to determine parasite targets of the protective host antibody response. Her ultimate goal is to identify new vaccine candidates against schistosomiasis, and discover immunomodulatory proteins that can be developed into therapeutic tools in the control of allergic and autoimmune responses.
Prof. Dr. Marc Hübner
Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany
Impact of filarial infections on the metabolic and immunological profile
Marc studied Biology in Hohenheim and Tübingen, Germany, and completed his PhD in 2006 on the immunomodulation of the rodent filarial nematode Litomosoides sigmodontis. He then joined Prof. Mitre’s lab at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, USA, where he showed that L. sigmodontis infection prevents type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. In 2010, he moved to the University Hospital Bonn as a group leader at IMMIP, continuing work on filarial models and their protective effects against non-communicable diseases, including insulin resistance, with parallel studies in human infections.
His research focuses on protective immune responses, particularly the role of eosinophils, and on developing novel macrofilaricidal drug candidates through preclinical and clinical studies in collaboration with industry and non-profit partners. Since 2020, he has been head of diagnostics in parasitology at IMMIP, W2 professor for translational microbiology, coordinator of the eWHORM EDCTP3 clinical trial consortium in Africa, and serves as chair of the German Society for Parasitology (DGP) and board member of the German Society of Tropical Medicine, Travel Medicine and Global Health (DTG).
🔗 https://www.microbiology-bonn.de/en/research/prof-dr-marc-huebner
Dr. Olena Kudlai
P.B. Šivickis Laboratory of Parasitology, Nature Research Centre, Lithuania
Freshwater fish helminths over time: Do all taxonomic groups have similar trajectories?
Olena's research career has led her from studying trematode larvae in molluscs using traditional methods to discovering new taxa of parasites from wild animals worldwide through integrative approaches. After completing her PhD in Parasitology (Helminthology) at the Institute of Zoology in Kyiv in 2011, Olena conducted post-doctoral research in leading laboratories working on digenean trematodes in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Australia, the United States, and South Africa.
Her interests center on helminth parasites, particularly trematodes from aquatic animals, though she has also published on acanthocephalans, cestodes, and nematodes. Her expertise spans the biology, taxonomy, diversity, and evolution of parasites, and is addressed through morphological, statistical, and molecular methods. Currently, Olena is a Chief Researcher at the Laboratory of Parasitology, Nature Research Centre, Lithuania, where her work examines how parasite diversity and community composition in freshwater fish and macroinvertebrates change over time in response to global environmental pressures.
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