Research Focus
The Molecular Helminthology Laboratory focuses on the identification and characterisation of vaccine, drug, and diagnostic targets for helminth infections—particularly schistosomiasis—through the application of cutting-edge gene functional technologies. These include CRISPR-based systems (CRISPR/Cas9, Cas12/13, and CRISPRi/a), single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, bulk transcriptomics, proteomics, and RNA interference. We have established CRISPR/Cas technologies in schistosomes, creating unique opportunities for functional genomics, improved diagnostics, and translational research. Identified targets are validated using in vitro parasite culture systems and in vivo animal challenge models for therapeutic and vaccination studies. The team has pioneered mRNA vaccine development for schistosomiasis and has extensive experience evaluating vaccine and drug efficacy across laboratory and field settings. In parallel, we have developed portable, field-friendly point-of-care CRISPR-based diagnostic tools for schistosomiasis, strongyloidiasis, and other helminth infections in Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Gallery
Research Projects
Current Research Projects
Immunological and molecular studies on Schistosoma mansoni
Immunological and molecular studies on Schistosoma japonicum
Harnessing CRISPR-Cas13 molecular diagnosis in the fight against parasitic worms
Research Team
Veronika Toth
Skye MacGregor
Mary Duke
Mingsong Zhu
Funding
NHMRC Ideas grant
Merck Schistosomiasis Research Grant
NHMRC e-ASIA Joint Research Program
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre seed grants
Queensland Immunology Research Centre seed grant
QIMRB seed grants
Publications
Skye MacGregor, Donald McManus, Haran Sivakumaran, Juliet D. French, Catherine Gordon, Pengfei Cai, Remigio Olveda, Malcolm Jones, HONG YOU*. Development of CRISPR/Cas13a-based assays for the diagnosis of Schistosomiasis. eBioMedicine, 2023 94: 104730.
HONG YOU*, Malcolm K. Jones, Catherine A. Gordon, Alexa E. Arganda, Pengfei Cai, Harry AI-Wassiti, Colin W. Pouton, Donald P. McManus. The mRNA Vaccine Technology Era and the Future Control of Parasitic Infections, Clinical Microbiology Review, 2023, 36:e00241
Xiaofeng Du, Donald McManus, Juliet French, Haran Sivakumaran, Natasha Collinson, Skye MacGregor, Conor Fogarty, Malcolm Jones, HONG YOU*. CRISPR interference for Sequence-Specific Regulation of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor A in Schistosoma mansoni, Frontiers in Immunology, 2023, 13:1105719
Further Information
- Helminthology Department of Immunology and Parasitology, Med Biotech Laboratories, Kampala, Uganda
- Carlos Graeff-Teixeira, Department of Pathology, Infectious Diseases Unit, Health Sciences Center, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil
- Maria Elena Bottazzi, Baylor College of Medicine, Tropical Medicine, Houston, USA
- Jeroen Pollet, Baylor College of Medicine, Tropical Medicine, Houston, USA
- Adebayo J Molehin, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Graduate Studies, Midwestern University, Glendale, AZ 85308, USA.
- Zhipeng Xu, Department of Pathogen Biology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China
- Wei Hu, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
- Colin Pouton, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia
- Matthew Watts, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New South Wales
- Rogan Lee, NSW Health Pathology
- Richard Bradbury, James Cook University
- Colleen Lau, School of public Health, University of Queensland
- Zhian Chen, Frazer Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Geoffrey Gobert, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
- Mario Jiz, Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM), Manila, The Philippines