Authors

Discussion

The diagnosis and control of liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica remains a highly researched area due to the dwindling amount of control options. By investigating parasite-host interactions to understand how a parasite can manipulate the microbiome there is potential for new biomarker discovery which represent novel treatment options.

Gallbladder bile represents a so far undiscovered country of uncharacterized microbiota and their relationship to hepatobiliary related diseases, bile was until recently considered a sterile body fluid as it would not provide a suitable growth environment for bacterium, however bacterial flora has been reported in healthy individuals the result being the discovery of enteric bacteria which are able to persist through high concentrations of bile. This study will take a combined multi- omics approach into bile through its meta-taxonomy, genomics and proteomics, with an aim to uncover the nature of helminth infection on bile DNA and how it changes as a result of infections. Meta-proteomics will be used to characterise the protein content F. hepatica secretes into the gallbladder identify protein origins from the host and parasite.