Dr. Dillman was a guest on a podcast for the very first time. It was an episode of Something Offbeat and the podcast episode dropped today. The episode was based on a recent article detailing a case of Ophidascaris robertsi infection in a human brain.
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Nematode Parasite of Pythons Found in Woman’s Brain
A recent case of Ophidascaris robertsi infecting a human brain was recently reported. This is a parasite of snakes, not normally found in mammals. This recent case is the first reported infection in humans. UCR nematologists discuss the case and help provide some context to this infection.
New Report of Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi in Los Angeles
Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi is a recently described nematode parasite of tarantulas, originally isolated from a tarantula breeder in Virginia Beach, VA. The Dillman lab described a new case of this parasite infecting tarantulas at a breeding facility in Los Angeles, California.
Professor & Chair of Nematology
Dr. Dillman was promoted to full Professor and asked to serve as chair of the Department of Nematology. He is excited to work with his fellow nematologists in serving the students at UCR and continuing the long tradition of research excellence established by this department.
Ogadinma Graduates!!
Congratulations to Ogadinma Okakpu, who recently received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences. He begins his new position at TRAQ in Carlsbad, CA in July doing ELISA assay development. 
sPLA2 from S. carpocapsae modulates insect immunity
Sophia and Ogadinma led a research project which was just published illustrating that a secreted phospholipase A2 enzyme released from S. carpocapsae modulates insect immunity. The paper also included other members of the lab. This is the third individual protein from S. carpocapsae that we have shown to have immunogenic properties in insects.
ShK-Domain-Containing Proteins Modulate Host Immunity
Parasitic nematodes release a wide variety of proteins into their hosts to manipulate host biology. One family of proteins that is released by Steinernema carpocapsae are the ShK-domain-containing proteins. It was previously not known how these proteins function during a nematode infection. Graduate student Aklima Lima reported that one of these proteins released from S. carpocapsae during infection modulates host immunity by decreasing host resistance to infection. In addition to evaluating how the protein affects fly survival, she also employed some behavioral assays to assess fly health in a more sensitive way. The results were published this week in Pathogens and represents the first published results from Aklima’s graduate work.
Microbiome and Efficacy of Phasmarhabditis to Control Slugs and Snails
Our lab has recently published three studies on the slug-parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis californica. One study on the native microbiome of these nematodes and two studies on the efficacy of these nematodes against different snail pests; Succinea snails and Theba snails. Most of the work the lab has done on Phasmarhabditis nematodes was driven by Dr. Jake Schurkman, who recently graduated and Dr. Irma Tandingan De Ley, who recently retired. During his time in the lab, Jake was an author on 8 papers, most of which were focused on interactions between gastropods and parasitic nematodes. The species that he worked on, P. california, was discovered by Irma and several colleagues. That nematode is now being sold as a commercial biological control agent to kill slugs. At this point however, it is only available in Europe, not the US. Hopefully this becomes available in the US in the near future.
Jake & Sophia Graduate
Sophia Parks and Jacob Schurkman were hooded in a graduation hooding ceremony over the weekend, completing their doctoral studies. Sophia is the 3rd graduate student to graduate from the Dillman lab and Jake is the 4th. Sophia started a postdoctoral position at Stanford in December and Jake begins a fulltime position at Maine Molecular Quality Controls later this year. Congratulations on their hard work and success!!
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence
Parasitologist Adler Dillman and cell biologist Manuela Martins-Green are this year’s recipients of UC Riverside’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement. The award is presented every spring to faculty members with a distinguished record of fostering undergraduate research or creative activity.
