SPPIRIT Network

Hi everyone! We are SPPIRIT, a Scottish ECR network created by a group of postdocs, research fellows, and PIs motivated to develop and strengthen the parasitology community in Scotland. Follow us for research highlights, training opportunities, Workshops and much more!

Join us for SPPIRIT Forum on 27th of October, this time venturing into the multicellular world of parasitic worms! Experts in the field will introduce their exciting research and share their experience, focusing on practical aspects of the work. Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sppirit-fo...

Abstract submission deadline extended until Friday 17th April 2026!! Last chance to submit your abstract for our free online ECR event showcasing veterinary parasitology 🪱🐌🐮 See the link in the post below

World Chagas Disease Day acts as a reminder of a global health challenge that often goes unnoticed. In our latest blog, Manu De Rycker from the @dundee.ac.uk shares what his team are doing to combat this disease. #ChagasDisease www.sfc.ac.uk/inside-the-u...

Because in diseases like Chagas, leaving even a single parasite behind isn’t an option. At DDU, we developed a washout assay to determine if compounds can achieve complete parasite clearance. #DrugDiscovery #NTD #ChagasDisease #GlobalHealth #ScientificInnovation #NeglectedDiseases #Research

Exciting PhD opportunity on the ecological impacts of anthelmintic use on soil fauna, with a crack supervisory team and expertise from @glasgow.ac.uk, @hutton.ac.uk and @moredunfoundation.bsky.social! Find more details here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Thank you to Prof Mike Barrett & @christina-naula.bsky.social & anyone else involved in organising our post-#BSP2026 field trip to see William Leishman's former home in Blairmore! We learned so much & got lucky again with the sunshine! www.blairmorehall.com <- Village Hall link to support them!

Wonderful trip to Blairmore, home of Sir William Leishman, with fellow Leishmania researchers. Niche tourism! Huge thanks to Mike Barrett for organising #Parasitology @bspparasitology.bsky.social

Thank you so much to everyone who made it to #BSP2026 in beautiful, sunny Glasgow!!! (We asked the weather to behave while everyone was around)! The @bspparasitology.bsky.social 2027 meeting will be in Cardiff! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves! Like Glasgow, People Make #Parasitology! 🥳🧬🧫🔬

We are pleased to announce our upcoming Career Talk hosted by the BSP TrypsClub 📅 Date: 30 April 2026 🕒 Time: 2:00 PM BST 📍 Location: Zoom Register using the link or scan the QR code on the poster: lnkd.in/drypyMD8 The TrypsClub Team

The BSP spring meeting is not just offering great talks - we also have an exciting breakout program! @christina-naula.bsky.social from @glasgow.ac.uk and co-host of @microbetv.bsky.social This Week in Parasitism is interviewing Prof Poppy @lamberton-lab.bsky.social about her scientific career.

Our Spring meeting starts today in Glasgow! All the best to all those presenting @bspparasitology.bsky.social

📆 Join us for the scientific session of the ParaFrap Next Generation in Parasitology Workshop (May 18-21, 2026, Montpellier) ! 🧑‍🔬 Junior PIs will present their work. Registration is free but mandatory (includes lunch & coffee breaks). Spots are limited, register now! 👉 forms.gle/bYsb47iZG7pR...

-> 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 and 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 for BSP 2026 in Glasgow are open! The deadline for abstracts for oral presentations is 17 February while the deadline for poster abstracts is 28 February. lnkd.in/eJqXD3DY

🌍 Calling parasitologists from LMICs! Apply for the MPM XXXVII LMIC Travel Award to attend the Molecular Parasitology Meeting in Woods Hole, MA (September 13–17, 2026). Awards include full registration, travel, and accommodation. 🗓️ Deadline: March 1, 2026 🔗 www.parasitesrule.com/mpm-xxxvii/t...

We are pleased to share a pre-print of collaborative work @scotomorph.bsky.social @janemunday.bsky.social @keithrmatthews.bsky.social @goldrieve.bsky.social describing the genome of Trypanosoma congolense and the organisation of VSG genes for immune evasion www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Are you a curious and skilled molecular parasitologist wanting to discover how Plasmodium parasites enter red blood cells? Come and join our team! We have two postdoc positions available. Find out more here: jobs.rvc.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... Application closing date is the 2nd of March.

Applications are open for the 2026 Biology of Parasitism course! 📍 Woods Hole, MA | 🗓 June 12 - July 23, 2026 An immersive 6-week program in modern parasitology for PhD students & postdocs, co-organized by Stéphanie Blandin. 📅 Application deadline: February 5, 2026 🔗 : shorturl.at/i8GSr

Our next Parents of Parasites virtual coffee is almost here! ☕🍼 A chance to catch up and connect with fellow parents in academia. 📅 1 December ⏰ 10:30 AM (GMT) 👉 SPPIRIT members: check your inbox 👉 Non-members: DM or email us to join

Coming up: Postdoctoral fellowship mini-workshop as a part of the SPPIRIT Forum series. EMBO, Marie Curie, and Wellcome Early Career fellows will share their advice on fellowship applications. Join us at 12 noon on Thursday 14th November! Register at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Incredibly proud to share that our work on Cryptosporidium Oocyst Wall Proteins is published in @PLOSPathogens journals.plos.org/plospathogen... Led by previous PhD student @BacchettiRoss and carried on by current PhD student, Sarah Stevens.

Join the next TrypsClub Journal Club with our former committee member Dr Kirsty McWilliam, who will be chatting about her latest trypanosome work! 🔬🧬

📢 Just 1 month to go until our SPPIRIT ECR symposium 📝 Abstract deadline extended to 10 October 2025 - don’t miss out!

📢 7 weeks to go until our SPPIRIT symposium A fantastic opportunity for ECR parasitologists across Scotland to network and showcase their research. 🗓️ 31 October 2025 | 📍 Roslin Institute, Edinburgh 🎟️ Free to attend → tinyurl.com/3yzjnm5h Secure your spot today!

🆕 | @uofgsii.bsky.social's Professor Rick Maizels has been prominently featured in a fascinating Freethink* article exploring the surprising relationship between parasitic worms and the human immune system. 👉 Full story: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infe... 🗞️ Article: www.freethink.com/biotech/worm...

Save the dates!! @bspparasitology.bsky.social Spring Meeting 2026 will be in Bonnie Glasgow! 7-9 April 2026, with a drinks reception in Glasgow City Chambers on the 6th of April 2026! Keep an eye on the BSP website for registration and abstract submission! Logo by @shannaraeilean.bsky.social! 🦟

Our next Parents of Parasites meeting is coming up! ☕👶 Being a parent in academia can feel isolating - join our virtual coffee break to connect, share experiences, and support each other. 📅 22nd September 🕒 2:00 PM 👉 SPPIRIT members: check your inbox 👉 Non-members: email or DM us to join

Don't miss the chance to learn from an industry expert in drug discovery and connect with the Tryps Club community! 🌍✨

We’re pleased to share our new study, led by @jezieldamasceno.bsky.social, that used long-read, single molecule sequencing to reveal the full (?) picture of Leishmania DNA replication. Thanks, Mike Boemo and helpful reviewers @uofgsii.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🚨NEW PAPER🚨 We've already shown mosquito infections vary by time-of-day, here we test whether infection of mice FROM mosquitoes vary in a rhythmic manner. We test this in untreated & drug treated mice as some fitness consequences are only apparent in stressful environments doi.org/10.1186/s130...

My attempt to become a professor was unsuccessful again but the diplonema tagging paper is now published in Open Biology. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

A real pleasure to be a part of this beautiful new study on T cell responses in repeat controlled human infection vs natural infection with #schistosomes, spearheaded by @emmahoulder.bsky.social with many wonderful colleagues #helminths #ImmunoSky #IDSky 🪱 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨 Postdoc alert! Our former committee member @macleanlab.bsky.social is looking for a postdoc to work on Toxoplasma metabolism in his lab. Great opportunity to do cool science in a beautiful city! 🧪🤝

MMV, @LPIXEL_Inc & @dundeeuni are partnering to accelerate #malaria drug discovery using advanced AI-powered image analysis. This partnership aims to develop a platform that could shave months off the process of screening & selecting compounds. Learn more: bit.ly/44Roq5o

Delighted our latest paper is now published in Science Translational Medicine. Fantastic collab with Dr Avninder Bhambra and his team. Our studies reveal promising quinazolines selectively target KRS in T. cruzi. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @dundee.ac.uk

Great to have a latest #Chagas disease drug discovery paper published in @rsc.org MedChem: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... This work highlights how we decide to progress or terminate series, and hopefully provides some useful approaches and lessons. @ddu-dundee.bsky.social 🧪 #NTD #drugdiscovery

New paper led by Joel Odero from the #VectorsGlasgow team in @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk and #IfakaraHealthInstitute ⬇️ Genomic evidence of spatially structured gene flow and divergent insecticide resistance backgrounds of the malaria vector Anopheles funestus in Tanzania academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

🚨 Postdoc alert! Amazing opportunity to work on Toxoplasma with @youngtoxolab.bsky.social in Edinburgh. Check it out!

I used inducible CRISPR/Cas9 to make Trypanosoma brucei cell line that allowed me to edit originally muti-copy histone gene. We uncovered a novel role of H4 histone tail in gene regulation. I enjoyed working on this exciting project with @joanarcf.bsky.social, a great mentor. doi.org/10.1038/s414...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... Nice to have been involved in this great study from the Horn Lab, driven by @marketanovotna.bsky.social ! Elegant application of CRISPR precision editing and saturation mutagenesis!

New paper alert! Enjoy! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...