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Home Sweet Home
04 June 2013

Home Sweet Home

This parasitic worm lurks in tropical waters, waiting for an opportunity to penetrate the skin of a person wading barefoot, travel through their body, and set up home. Such worms, called Schistosoma (one pictured), can live for decades in its human host, seemingly unfazed by the attacks from our immune system or anti-parasitic drugs. Scientists have now found out how they can survive under siege. They took note of distant relatives of Schistosomaplanarian worms – that have the power to regenerate damaged tissue and organs by means of their hyperactive self-renewing stem cells called neoblasts. Guessing this regenerating power may be shared, the team identified the relevant cells in Schistosoma using a cell-labelling technique (white dots). These cells did indeed self-renew – forming identical clones. Discovering neoblast-like cells in Schistosoma explains their nonchalance in the face of our defences and could help shorten the stay of these home-invaders.

Written by Georgina Askeland

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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