Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2015 Parasite Prizes
08 October 2015

Parasite Prizes

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to three parasitologists. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura worked together to tackle helminths, or parasitic worms. In many of the world’s poorest countries these parasites can cause disfiguring inflammation to sufferers’ limbs, and inside the eye resulting in river blindness (pictured). Dr Ōmura discovered a soil bacterium called Streptomyces avermitilis which kills parasitic worms early in their life cycle, vastly reducing their threat. Dr Campbell identified the bacterium’s chemical agent, known as avermectin, yielding a new class of drugs that have been improving thousands of lives. The Nobel Prize is shared with Youyou Tu, who used clues in ancient Chinese texts to tackle malaria. Purifying the wormwood plant (Artemisia annua), Dr Tu isolated a chemical agent called artemisinin which rapidly kills malaria parasites and is currently helping to save 100,000 lives each year in Africa alone.

Written by John Ankers

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

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.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.