Parasitology - the study of eukaryotic infectious agents and how they cause disease

Parasites can be unicellular, microscopically small and live inside the body. They can be larger multicellular nematodes that live inside the body, for example tapeworms that can be from a few millimeters to several meters long. They can also be insects that live on the skin. Many parasites that live inside the body have complicated life cycles and are dependent on insects for transmission between host animals.

Parasites depend on host animals to survive. Their cells, unlike bacteria (prokaryotes), have a complex architecture and an organization of its genetic material similar to that of our own cells, they are eukaryotes. At Umeå University, we are researching several parasites that cause disease in humans and animals:

• We try to better understand which parts of the malaria parasite's genome are important for the parasite's ability to cause disease and to be transmitted by mosquitoes.
• We study how humans and mosquitoes respond to infection and interact with the malaria parasite.
• We conduct research that examines how diseases caused by different parasites are affected by climate change.
• We are researching the metabolism of the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness with the aim of discovering new weaknesses in the parasite’s armour that may become the target of new medicines.