Authors

D Smith¹; M Garner¹; D Price¹; W Anderson¹; H Peaty¹; Y Bartley¹; EM Oliver¹; A Morrison¹; A Nisbet¹; TN McNeilly¹;  ¹ Moredun Research Institute, UK

Discussion

Organoids represent an unlocking technology in scientific research, providing platforms to investigate the cellular and molecular biology of specific tissues, including in traditionally non-model organisms.
Over the past several years, we have worked on the development and characterization of a number organoid models, representative of diverse mucosal tissues in livestock species.
We have been applying these organoids in various ways across different projects, including a novel comparative approach to model host-parasite interactions of various helminth parasites that infect different tissues, modelling anthelmintic drug metabolism in physiologically-relevant models and testing epithelial immune signaling for the development of novel mucosal vaccines.
Here, we will present an overview of these diverse applications of organoid technology in parasitology research, with particular emphasis on our key descriptive findings to-date in modelling host responses to parasites and their products.