Could brain parasites be used to treat cognitive disorders

Professor Lilach Sheiner and her team at the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with Oded Rechavi from Tel-Aviv University, have been developing exciting new research that tackles one of the biggest challenges of treating cognitive disorders – crossing the blood brain barrier. By inserting proteins into the parasite Toxoplasma Gondii, the parasite is then put into the brain where it can cross the blood brain barrier, something proteins on their own are unable to do. This experimental method could potentially help treat cognitive disorders such as Rett Syndrome and Alzheimer’s. This research has been a collaborative project. The names of the people who have taken part are below: Shahar Bracha, Hannah J. Johnson, Nicole A. Pranckevicius, Francesca Catto, Athena E. Economides, Sergey Litvinov, Karoliina Hassi, Marco Tullio Rigoli, Cristina Cheroni, Matteo Bonfanti, Alessia Valenti, Sarah Stucchi, Shruti Attreya, Paul D. Ross, Daniel Walsh, Nati Malachi, Hagay Livne, Reut Eshel, Vladislav Krupalnik, Doron Levin, Stuart Cobb, Petros Koumoutsakos, Nicolò Caporale, Giuseppe Testa, Adriano Aguzzi, Anita A. Koshy, Lilach Sheiner and Oded Rechavi The University of Glasgow, changing the world since 1451.