{"id":1547,"date":"2026-08-06T15:47:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english-demo\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2026-10-07T12:01:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:01:29","slug":"parasitology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/departments\/laboratories\/parasitology\/","title":{"rendered":"Parasitology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-background\" style=\"background-color:#e9f7ff\"><strong>MARUYAMA, Haruhiko, M.D.<br>hikomaru@med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp<\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/laboratories\/parasitology\/\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>Parasitic worms might creep you out \u2013 and they literally creep, though these creatures are really fantastic animals. Can you imagine how parasites can distinguish men from chimps? Our primary interest focuses on how parasitic worms, especially nematodes, have evolved from free-living ancestors by examining their genomes.We also study the impact of parasitic infections on health and hygiene in Japan, testing samples from patients and livestock animals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"350\" height=\"208\" src=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-1.jpg\" alt=\"Parasitology\" class=\"wp-image-551\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-1.jpg 350w, http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-1-300x178.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Research Projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Comparative genomics of&nbsp;<em>Strongyloides&nbsp;<\/em>and related nematodes<\/li><li>Sex-determination mechanisms for&nbsp;<em>Strongyloides&nbsp;<\/em>nematodes<\/li><li>Genome sequencing of&nbsp;<em>Sparganum proliferum<\/em>, a mysterious killer parasite<\/li><li>Development of highly sensitive antibody tests for parasitic infections<\/li><li>Case study of parasitic diseases in Japan<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2>Lab Techniques<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Maintenance and handling of worms<\/li><li>Basic molecular biology techs (e.g., PCR, Sanger sequencing, E. coli transformation)<\/li><li>NGS (next generation DNA sequencers) sequencing and bioinformatics<\/li><li>Antibody binding tests (ELISA,Western blotting)<\/li><li>Morphological observation (confocal microscopy, immunostaining)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2>International Collaboration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Department of Internal Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand<\/li><li>Parasitology Division, Department of Medical Research (Lower Myanmar), Myanmar<\/li><li>Department of Microbiology, University of Medicine (1), Myanmar<\/li><li>Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, University of Coenhagen, Denmark<\/li><li>Parasite Genomics, Sanger Institute, UK<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis:60%\">\n<h2>Publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Yoshida A&nbsp;<em>et al<\/em>.&nbsp;(2016) Optimal ELISA antigen for the diagnosis of&nbsp;<em>Ascaris suum<\/em>&nbsp;infection in humans.&nbsp;<strong><em>Parasitol Res&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>2016 Sep 8. [Epub ahead of print]<\/li><li>Yoshida A&nbsp;<em>et al<\/em>.&nbsp;(2016) Venison, another source of&nbsp;<em>Paragonimus westermani&nbsp;<\/em>infection.&nbsp;<strong><em>Parasitol Int&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>65: 607-612.<\/li><li>Yoshida A&nbsp;<em>et al<\/em>.&nbsp;(2016) Larva migrans syndrome caused by&nbsp;<em>Toxocara&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>Ascaris&nbsp;<\/em>roundworm infections in Japanese patients.&nbsp;<strong><em>Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;35 (9): 1521-9.<\/li><li>Hunt VL&nbsp;<em>et al<\/em>. (2016) The genomic basis of parasitism in the&nbsp;<em>Strongyloides&nbsp;<\/em>clade of nematodes.&nbsp;<strong><em>Nature Genet&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>48, 299\u2013307.<\/li><li>Hino A&nbsp;<em>et al<\/em>.&nbsp;(2016) A novel method to assess the biodiversity of parasites using 18S rDNA Illumina sequencing; Parasitome analysis method.&nbsp;<em><strong>Parasitol Int<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/em>65(5), 572\u2013575.<\/li><\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis:40%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"377\" height=\"229\" src=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-721\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-3.jpg 377w, http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-3-300x182.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-720\" width=\"377\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-2.jpg 331w, http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/parasitology-2-300x181.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MARUYAMA, Haruhiko, M.D.hikomaru@med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp Summary Parasitic worms might creep you out \u2013 and they l &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/departments\/laboratories\/parasitology\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Parasitology&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1545,"menu_order":28,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1547"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1671,"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1547\/revisions\/1671"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp\/home\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}