Tom Pennance
schistosoma.bsky.social
Tom Pennance
@schistosoma.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, interested in African schistosomes, snail vectors & more...
Our paper measuring gene expression of Biomphalaria sudanica candidate immune genes across snails of different susceptibilities and in response to schistosome exposure and diet published in Journal of Helminthology this past week: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Schistosome exposure and diet induced effects on candidate immune gene expression in an African snail vector | Journal of Helminthology | Cambridge Core
Schistosome exposure and diet induced effects on candidate immune gene expression in an African snail vector - Volume 99
www.cambridge.org
September 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Recommended reading @wheelerlab.bio! Experimental work using schistosomes is challenging, and therefore procedures simplifying and maximising parasite yield is vital and often used. However, we must acknowledge and accommodate for how these processes impact worm biology, as detailed here!🪱
I am pleased to present a project we've been working on for the least year to try to answer a fundamental question - does a parasite's developmental niche as an egg have effects on larval stages? We show that the answer is very much yes - which has a few implications. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Tissue-specific distribution of eggs in the definitive host drives transcriptomic and behavioral differences in Schistosoma mansoni miracidia
Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by human-infective schistosomes (Trematoda: Schistosoma). Intestinal schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa and the Neotropics is caused primarily...
www.biorxiv.org
August 22, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Tom Pennance
Not the main point of this post of course, but I really do like viewing fitness as gravity pulling something down as opposed to the classic metaphor of climbing a peak.
adaptivediversity.wordpress.com/2025/08/05/c...
Cristiani Returns
The Anthropic Principle explains certain observations about the physical world: that we could not be here observing them if things were otherwise. Several different related concepts have been calle…
adaptivediversity.wordpress.com
August 14, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Job opportunity for a Research Fellow at LSHTM in the Schistosomiasis Research Group: jobs.lshtm.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
Job Opportunity at LSHTM: Research Fellow
We are seeking to hire a Research Fellow to join a recently funded exciting EDCTP clinical trials group for the next 3-4 years involving 5 sub-Saharan African partners and 5 European partners aiming t...
jobs.lshtm.ac.uk
August 14, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Great to see my friend/colleague Hugh Carter's work given the spotlight here! I wish I could test some tests, just to say I'v done that... www.theguardian.com/environment/...
What recreating Scott’s Antarctic expedition reveals about our seas today
A new polar project compared samples with those collected more than a century ago by by Scott, along with voyages led by Shackleton and Borchgrevink
www.theguardian.com
August 8, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Tom Pennance
Very excited and proud to release a project that I’ve been thinking about for at least 7 years, well before I started my faculty position. We built an imaging and computational platform from the ground up to help answer some outstanding questions in schistosome miracidia biology.
Quantitative ethology of schistosome miracidia characterizes a conserved snail peptide that inhibits penetration
Over 700 million people are at risk of contracting schistosomiasis due to regular exposure to freshwater sources where infected snails, the obligate intermediate hosts of schistosomes, are endemic. Al...
www.biorxiv.org
July 3, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Tom Pennance
Schistosomiasis is a human disease from worms spread by snails. I and others have long studied Latin American snails B. glabrata to find genomic regions affecting schisto resistance. But most schisto occurs in Africa, transmitted by other snails. Now with @schistosoma.bsky.social we address this…
July 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
New research w/ @jacobphd.bsky.social et al. published today in Nature Communications: Genes linked to schistosome resistance identified in a genome-wide association study of African snail vectors doi.org/10.1038/s414... 🐌🪱🧬
Genes linked to schistosome resistance identified in a genome-wide association study of African snail vectors - Nature Communications
A genome wide association study of an African vector of schistosomiasis revealed two genomic regions associated with resistance to Schistosoma mansoni. These findings will inform novel control strateg...
doi.org
July 27, 2025 at 9:42 AM
All talks recorded from @royalsociety.org meeting on hybrid schistosomes now available online. "Parasite evolution and impact in action: assessing the importance of hybrid schistosomes in Africa":
royalsociety.org/science-even...
Parasite evolution and impact in action: assessing the importance of hybrid schistosomes in Africa | Royal Society
Science+ meeting organised by Professor J Russell Stohard, Professor Janelisa Musaya, Dr Alexandra Juhasz, and Dr Lucas Cunningham
royalsociety.org
March 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
New paper investigating the mating system of Biomphalaria sudanica, a vector of Schistosoma mansoni that seems to preferentially outcross given the option.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...
Redirecting
doi.org
January 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Tom Pennance
wait, @britishecolsoc.bsky.social I thought you'd "agreed steps to make sure this doesn't happen again" 🫠
December 31, 2024 at 11:30 AM
Determining accurate intramolluscan schistosome infections is complicated, and can impact downstream analysis. In our paper just published, we have tried to lay out some of the possible outcomes of snail-parasite exposure with a diagnostic PCR assay meridian.allenpress.com/journal-of-p...
December 23, 2024 at 11:08 PM
New samples and data point towards imported Schistosoma bovis infections in cattle on Unguja Island, Zanzibar, in the preprint from @russstothard.bsky.social and colleagues: www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5...
A pilot investigation of bovine schistosomiasis on Unguja Island, Zanzibar raises a new concern for elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis
Our pilot parasitological investigation of cattle, supplemented with molecular DNA characterisation of encountered schistosomes, sheds first light upon bovine schistosomiasis on Unguja Island, Zanziba...
www.researchsquare.com
December 16, 2024 at 9:49 AM
Job opportunity: Assistant or Associate Professor of Parasitology at @unm.bsky.social - fantastic opportunity for those interested in parasite natural history collections, ecology, evolution, systematics and teaching and training - and surrounded by a greta group! unm.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Assistant or Associate Professor of Biology – Robert L. Rausch Chair, MSB Curator of Parasites
We invite applications for an endowed professorship, the Robert L. Rausch Chair of Parasitology. The Chair will be an Assistant or Associate Professor...
unm.csod.com
December 6, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Looking forward to using blue sky!
Happy to see many friends and colleagues already here!
I will probably regret not chosing my name for my handle, but the temptation, and then the hard decision to make between, choosing either schistosoma, bulinus and biomphalaria was too much.
November 22, 2024 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Tom Pennance
Interested in Schisto research and interventions? 🪱 For >15 years, @swisstph.bsky.social 🇨🇭 and the Public Health Lab - IdC 🇹🇿 conducted research and implemented interventions in Pemba, TZ, now approaching elimination.
📽 Watch our new documentary here showing these efforts: youtu.be/sGwnGLug-Aw?...
Documentary: Schistosomiasis research and interventions in Pemba, Tanzania
YouTube video by SwissTPH
youtu.be
November 21, 2024 at 11:25 PM