With the pandemic over and my baby big enough to not mind mom being out of town for a few days, I’ve been lucky enough to get back to traveling for work. I have really enjoyed getting to hear exciting, cutting-edge science and network with new and old colleagues.

In April, Mattie attended the British Society for Parasitology’s meeting in Liverpool.

She was asked to give a talk about the lab’s work on organoids as a part of session on using organoid technology to study parasites. It was fun to share the stage with David Smith, our collaborator from Moredun, and Maria Duque-Correa, who I had early conversations with about setting up organoids.

There were also sessions on antigenic variation and cool parasite cell biology. Jim Collins from UTSW talked about sensing of male and female schistosomes. We were lucky enough to have him come up to Scotland after the meeting and give a seminar in Dundee. I remember hearing him give a seminar when I was at the University of Georgia and also last year the Gordon Research Conference in Galveston. Impressive biology and always great to welcome another Texan to Scotland.

In early May, Mattie attended the first of the series of Wellcome Trust Researcher meetings held in London across the street from the Wellcome Trust.

I was thrilled to be asked to participate by giving a short presentation about our group’s discovery research, funded by my Sir Henry Dale Fellowship. The other ECRs invited to talk in this session were so fascinating. I learned a lot over the 2 days and appreciate the opportunity to get to hear more from the Wellcome Trust about their future vision, and also meet other researchers.

The meeting was 2 days before the cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Devon, UK. Highlighting the need for continued research into Cryptosporidium, as this pathogen is far from tackled.

In May, Mattie attended the 17th International Congress on Toxoplasmosis:

It was great to catch up with old friends, colleagues, and hear what is new in the Toxoplasma field. Plus it was held in Berlin, which was an amazing place to explore during free time.

I also got a chance to catch up with Frank Seeber, who was my lab buddy when he did a sabbatical in Boris’ lab back in Athens.

He invited me and Kami for a traditional German dinner of schnitzel. We also got to enjoy the seasonal white asparagus. It was delicious! And fun to catch up!

In June I was back in Europe, this time to give a long-awaited seminar the Pasteur Institute. Lucy Glover invited me a long time ago, but a pandemic and then a baby delayed my trip until this year. I had a wonderful time meeting the parasitology groups there, discussing all things Cryptosporidium transmission, and enjoying Paris before the upcoming olympics. Thanks very much for having me and thanks for all your ideas and feedback!

Directly after my trip to Pasteur, I quickly travelled to the USA for the weekend to attend the wedding of Jennie Dumaine, of eLife MEDLE2 fame.

We had a small Striepen Lab reunion, featuring Maid-of-Honor and HHMI Hannah Gray Fellow Alexis Gibson, Boris, Jennie, Mattie, and Elise (who is the lead author on the life cycle revision paper). It was so fun to reunite with friends to celebrate Jennie!

Emma Sands continues to do great work engaging the public with science in her new role with Scottish Water.

Click HERE to read more.

Jack Hanna recently attended the 17th International Congress on Toxoplasmosis and presented a poster on his postdoctoral work.

He was recently awarded a Carnegie Trust Research Incentive Grant for his postdoctoral research. Great work Jack!

Ross Bacchetti is hard at work tracking the exponential increase of UK based Cryptosporidium since the pandemic. We are thrilled to see that he’s already published a paper in his new position. Read it here!

Grant, Sarah, Mattie, and Nicola Caldwell traveled to Philly in March for the First Biennial Cryptosporidium Meeting, hosting by Boris Striepen and Chris Hunter.

Our collaborators from the University of Arizona, Curtis Thorne and Briana Guzman joined us!

Grant gave a poster about his PhD project, Nicola spoke about the DDU’s Crypto KRS programme, Mattie talked about our recent publication from Jack Hanna’s PhD work, and Curtis spoke about our work to develop organoid models to study Cryptosporidium infection.

Our alumnus Simona Seizova was also present, and with all our collaborators and colleagues over the years. It was a fantastic meeting that left us all inspired to get back to the lab!

Speakers and chairs from the meeting wrote up a summary of the science that was presented. You can read it HERE:

There’s a rumor that the next meeting may be held in the UK… so stay tuned…

Mattie, Grant, Sarah (and even Clark) attended the biannual UK Coccidia Day, this time held in Glasgow and organised by Clare Harding.

Grant and Sarah both gave Turbo Talks about their projects. And we really enjoyed hearing about all the exciting Coccidia work happening in the UK.

It was also so fun to see many of our lab alumni in attendance, including Jack, Ross, and Flora! Thankfully they are also experienced ceilidh professionals, so they were great partners for the end of day dancing.

The week after we enjoyed a Christmas lunch out, followed by bowling at the new bowling alley in Dundee!

Good wishes for a restful holiday break and starting the new year refreshed!

It was a very busy start to the new year…

We welcomed a new EastBio PhD student, Peyton Goddard, and a new Masters by Research Student, Lynn Wong! We look forward to seeing their research kick of this semester!

The second week back to work we welcomed a group of visitors from the Welcome Trust to the School of Life Sciences: Paul Schreier (Interim CEO), John-Arne Rottingen (newly appointed CEO), and Julia Gillard (Chair of the Board of Governors).

It was great to tell them a little about our work on Cryptosporidium. When we have visitors, I always bring along the acrylic stain-glass window Janice Aitken made of Cryptosporidium oocysts.

At the SLS Annual Review of the Year, it was announced that our new selection marker for Cryptosporidium genetic modification won runner-up for the “SLS Innovator of the Year” Award. Well done to the team, especially Jack and Simona!

The local Dundee SPPIRIT committee won the SLS People’s Award! Thanks to Melanie Ridgway for suggesting that we nominate the group and congrats to everyone in the team.

We are now the proud owners of this impressive trophy!

Mattie was an invited lunch speaker back in July 2023 at the local Dundee Rotary Club. She invited the group to come visit and tour the labs, and we were finally able to arrange this. It was great to meet and talk about how Dundee has changed over the years and how the work at the School of Life Sciences has impacted the city. Thanks to everyone for coming and spending the afternoon with us.

Thanks to Ali Floyd for giving a short tour of our WCAIR medicinal garden, despite the really bad weather and to members of the lab for joining in for a cup of tea.