Role Models

A water-borne parasite with a global reach, Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of diarrhoea, particularly severe or even fatal in young children and patients with weakened immune systems. Those who overcome the disease develop some resistance to the parasites, suggesting that vaccination could be an effective solution. Yet vaccine development has been fraught with difficulty, partly because mice, our most popular animal models for disease, are resistant to the parasites infecting humans. However, they're naturally vulnerable to a closely-related species, Cryptosporidium tyzzeri (pictured, in red, in a mouse intestine), and, while mice don’t suffer from diarrhoea as we do, infection with C. tyzzeri otherwise closely mirrors disease progression in humans. Most importantly, mice that survive infection, or are treated with parasites weakened by radiation, also become less susceptible to subsequent challenges, providing a valuable opportunity to investigate resistance to Cryptosporidium and refine the development of potentially life-saving vaccines.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image by Muthgapatti Kandasamy, Adam Sateriale, and Boris Striepen
• Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Cell Host and Microbe, July 2019