Biology Faculty and Staff
Judith Humphries
During my PhD I studied the nervous systems of parasitic worms but when I moved to UW-Madison, I started to look at things from the hosts’ point of view. For the past few years I’ve been researching the snail Biomphalaria glabrata, which is the intermediate host for the parasite that causes the tropical disease schistosomiasis. I’m interested in how the snail defends itself against the schistosome parasite, in particular the communication pathways snail immune cells use to trigger an immune response. Using molecular biological techniques, I have identified several snail cell receptors and intracellular signaling proteins which may function in the snail’s immune system.
Education:
PhD Queen’s University of Belfast, United Kingdom.
Postdoctoral fellow – UW-Madison, Iowa State University
Courses Offered: Parasitology, Immunology, Bioinformatics, Integrative Biology: Heterotrophs
