EID: Parasite Induced Susceptibility and Transmission in a Seasonal Environment: Micro and Macro Interactions and the Dynamics of the Parasite Community of Mice

提案题目：季节性环境中寄生虫诱导的易感性和传播：微观和宏观相互作用以及小鼠寄生群落的动力学寄生虫，根据定义，它们会对宿主造成伤害，因此个体宿主内的寄生虫群落可以通过宿主的免疫系统间接相互作用。一种寄生虫的存在对另一种寄生虫是有益还是有害，是疾病控制和动态中的一个关键因素，但迄今仍被忽视。该项目将使用实验和数学建模的混合方法，研究寄生虫群落在个体水平上是如何形成的，以及这对种群水平上的疾病动态的影响。不是所有的人都是平等的；它们对抗和传播感染的能力不同。重要的是，这可能导致某些个人对大多数疾病传播负责；超级传播者。这些超级传播者可能具有可预测的特征，可以识别它们，从而最有效地以疾病控制为目标。然而，迄今为止，创造超级传播者的机制一直难以捉摸。我们探索了这样一种观点，即超级传播者可能是它所携带的寄生虫和它们之间发生的相互作用的功能。因此，我们将梳理个体之间的内在差异，这些差异导致了对寄生虫的易感性和暴露程度的变化，同时也确定了通过个体免疫系统介导的感染如何塑造寄生虫群落。这些相互作用将在季节性环境中进行调查，因为存在寄生虫感染阶段，因此群落结构可能是不同寄生虫在不同温度下高度可变的发育和存活率的函数。从该项目中获得的关于决定寄生虫群落动态的机制的见解应该有助于研究人员确定疾病出现的重要因素，确定为什么一些寄生虫可能比其他寄生虫更普遍，并确定产生超级传播者的特征。该项目将使用小鼠-人类病原体系统来推断人类病原体水平上的疾病动态。支持培养博士后、研究生和本科生。

Proposal Number: DEB-0520468Proposal Title: Parasite Induced Susceptibility and Transmission in a Seasonal Environment: Micro and Macro Interactions and the Dynamics of the Parasite Community of MiceParasites, by definition, cause their host harm and so the community of parasites within an individual host can be expected to interact with one another indirectly through the host's immune system. Whether presence of one parasite is beneficial or detrimental to another is a crucial, but as yet overlooked, factor in disease control and dynamics. This project will investigate how a community of parasites is shaped at the individual level and the consequences this has for disease dynamics at the population level using a mixture of experiments and mathematical modeling.Not all individuals are equal; they differ in their ability to fight and spread infections. Importantly this can give rise to certain individuals being accountable for the majority of disease transmission; super-spreaders. These super-spreaders may have predictable characteristics that allow for thier identification and so target disease control most effectively. However, the mechanisms that create super-spreaders thus far have been elusive. We explore the idea that a super-spreader may be a function of the parasites it harbors and the interactions that occur between them. As such we will tease apart the inherent differences between individuals that lead to changes in susceptibility and exposure to parasites whilst also determining how infection mediated through an individual's immune system will shape the parasite community. These interactions will be investigated in a seasonal environment since the availability of parasitic infective stages and therefore the community structure may be a function of the highly variable development and survival rates of different parasites at different temperatures. Insights gained from this project on the mechanisms that determine parasite community dynamics should help researchers indentify important factors in disease emergence, determine why some parasites may be more prevalent than others, and identify the characteristics that create super-spreaders. The project will use a mouse-human pathogen system to infer disease dynamics at the human-pathogen level. The program will support training of post-doc, graduate and undergraduate students.