Researchers dedicated to the Hairworm Biodiversity Survey

Ben Hanelt

Ben is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

His research has focused on the interface between evolution, ecology, genetics, and genomics of parasitic organisms and their hosts.  He is especially interested in studying the interactions among parasites and between parasites and hosts.  He has pioneered work on establishing a gordiid model system.  His work on this group has allowed for the unraveling of their life cycle, transmission, ecology, evolution, and has led to the domestication of several hairworm species.  His most recent work has focused on integrating molecular techniques into addressing questions of host-parasite interactions and evolutionary epidemiology using the human parasite Schistosoma mansoni.  His work on this group has included differential gene expression of the vector snails to increase our understanding of the snail’s immune system, study of parasite species hybridization in nature, and development of a technique to quantify and qualify parasite populations within human patients.

 
Matt Bolek

Matt is an Assistant Professor of Zoology in the Department of Zoology at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater Oklahoma.

His research interests are in the area of parasite ecology, evolution of parasite life cycles, and parasite taxonomy.  I utilize parasites of amphibians and aquatic invertebrates in order to investigate parasite ecology and evolution because lower vertebrates and invertebrates have invaded a multitude of microhabitats and exhibit a striking diversity of life histories, reproductive strategies, body sizes, foraging modes, and trophic relations.  They serve as both intermediate and definitive hosts and their parasite fauna is diverse.  Therefore, these hosts provide a good model for studying biotic and abiotic ecological factors that determine parasite species’ distribution, abundance, and movements through ecosystems.  This system enables our laboratory to investigate questions of how host and parasite life histories co-evolve, and affect parasite community structure, parasite biogeography, and distribution in time and space

Links to Matt's home pages can be found here and here. 

Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa

Andreas is the Curator at the Zoological Museum at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg Germany.

He is an expert on nematomorphs but also an expert on the morphology and evolution of many of the lesser known groups. He has extensive experience in alpha taxonomy of nematomorphs and also studies the gastrotrichs  because they are considered to be closely related to the molting non-panarthropods and yet they themselves do not molt.

Andreas has recently published a book entitled: The Evolution of Organ Systems. You can get additional information here. 

Links to Andreas' home pages can be found here.