Sometimes you get to travel for your PhD and last week was one of those times for me. This last week I was in France doing fieldwork with my colleague Antonietta Knetge, her co-supervisor Bernard Gomez, and his PhD student Axel Montigny. The purpose of this trip was to collect fossil specimens from Cretaceous localities around Poitiers, from the active quarries of Persac to the beaches of Ile d’Oleron.
Fig. 1: Ile d’Oleron at low tide. Left to Right: Axel, Catarina (me, hi!), and Bernard. Photograph by A. Knetge.
This trip, like all trips, was a learning experience. And everyone loves a list so today we’re counting down the Top 5 things I learned during fieldwork last week.
5. Gear isn’t everything, but it does make a difference
You don’t need to be decked out in Arc’teryx and have the latest in ~geological hammer technology~. However – a solid pair of boots and access to proper tools will absolutely make a difference.
Fig. 2: Drip. Photograph by Antonietta Knetge.
4. Finding Good Rocks is Good Pt.1
The debate of “Good Rock vs Good Stick” has been ongoing for as long as hominids have had the capacity to debate (citation needed). It can be argued that a good stick is more versatile than a good rock, however, in the presence of a large body of water, a Good Rock reigns supreme. Quarries, especially inactive ones, are usually home to small lakes. And paleontological excavations are known to produce some quantities of big rocks, especially if you’re trying to uncover a specific level. The conditions were perfect. If you ever need to raise morale on a dig, Good Rock Thrown Into Lake is sure to do the trick.
Fig. 3: Good rock found and expertly chucked at the Persac Quarry. Photos by A. Knetge, gif editing by C. Barbosa.
3. Wear sunscreen but most importantly cover yourself
The first time I ever did fieldwork, it was an afternoon in mid-June in Lisbon on a southwest facing cliff. This is to say, it was very very hot and there was no shade whatsoever. I wore a tank top and sunscreen but got a peeling sunburn the shape of the top on my back. This is not ideal. This time, I wore longer sleeves when the weather permitted and always had my shoulders covered. Spent the whole week in the sun, only got a little pink in the forearms the first day. I know it’s obvious, but it really can’t be stressed enough.
2. Nutrition
This is another obvious one but bear with me. Watchers of Dungeon Meshi will be familiar with the importance of balanced, tasty, and warm meals to keep your body healthy and yourself happy, but it really cannot be stressed how much eating well (and enough) will affect your mood. Making sure you’re getting enough water (and also electrolytes!) and enough carbs/protein/fats will keep your eyes and mind sharp and keep you motivated throughout the day. Not enough praise can be said for a hearty, warm meal after a hard day’s work.
1. Finding Good Rocks is Good Pt.2
Doing desk work and data analysis is all well and good but nothing beats the rush of cracking open a hunk of clay and finding a perfectly preserved leaf. Venations visible, margins intact, petiole and everything. Effervescent.
Fig. 4: Eucalyptus-like angiosperm leaves from Puy-Puy (Albian-Cenomanian, ~100.5Mya).
Our understanding of how species interact and evolve depends on accurate knowledge of the species that exist on Earth. There are still many species to be identified, however, even in evolutionarily significant regions such as Wallacea in central Indonesia, site of Alfred Russel Wallace’s pioneering work. Our new paper, completed jointly with researchers from Universitas Halu Oleo and just published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, draws on work carried out in Wallacea to identify multiple unrecognised species in the beautiful sunbird family. Made using modern genetic, acoustic, and statistical techniques, these discoveries add to our understanding of how life evolved in this region and reinforce some of Wallace’s original ideas.
The key discovery is the “Wakatobi Sunbird Cinnyris infrenatus”, a species endemic to the small islands of the Wakatobi archipelago, off Southeast Sulawesi in central Indonesia. The Wakatobi Islands have been separated from other landmasses since they first rose out of the sea, and so there has been plenty of time for their populations to evolve in isolation and produce endemic taxa, found nowhere else on Earth. The Wakatobi Islands have been recognised as a Key Biodiversity Area for their importance to the survival of biodiversity. The Wakatobi Sunbird is the latest endemic species to be identified by our research group, following previous work on the Wakatobi Flowerpecker and the double discovery of the Wakatobi White-eye and Wangi-wangi White-eye. It’s important that we know all of the species of Southeast Sulawesi and the Wakatobi Islands, because this region acts as a “natural laboratory” for the study of evolutionary processes such as cryptic sexual dimorphism, the “supertramp strategy”, and the links between behaviour and population divergence. The Wakatobi Sunbird is currently treated as a subspecies of the widespread Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis), but our findings indicate that the Olive-backed Sunbird is actually made up of at least 4 reproductively isolated species.
Male Olive-backed Sunbirds from Sulawesi and nearby islands. Our new paper supports splitting this population as the “Sahul Sunbird (Cinnyris clementiae)”.
Male Wakatobi Sunbirds. This population is currently viewed as a subspecies of the Olive-backed Sunbird, but the genetic divergence we have found, along with its darker plumage, shorter wings, and different calls, support its recognition as a new species.
Female Olive-backed Sunbirds (“Sahul Sunbirds”) from Sulawesi and nearby islands. Sunbirds are sexually dimorphic, with the feales usually showing simpler plumage than the males.
Female Wakatobi Sunbirds. The analysis of plumage in our study used male birds, following previous taxonomic work on subirds.
The sunbirds (Nectariniidae) fill a similar niche in Africa, Asia, and Australia to the hummingbirds of the Americas. They are small birds with long bills that help them extract nectar from flowers. Like the hummingbirds, many sunbirds (males particularly) exhibit brightly coloured plumage, with beautiful iridescent or “metallic” feathers that reflect the sunlight. In fact, the naturalist William Jardine tells us in his 1843 volume on the sunbirds that sunbirds get their name “from their brightly-tinted dress, appearing in higher splendour when played on by the sun-beams”. For hundreds of years, ornithologists have used the patterns and colours of these feathers to identify sunbird species. Now, however, we can combine multiple forms of data to uncover patterns that weren’t clear from plumage alone. Our paper also looked at the Black Sunbird (Leptocoma aspasia), a species with male plumage that’s hard to examine because it mostly looks jet-black, except when the sun hits it in the right way to reveal other colours. We found a genetic split in this species that had not been suggested by any previous work, probably due to its plumage being less informative.
Male Black Sunbird (Leptocoma aspasia).
Female Black Sunbird (Leptocoma aspasia)
Finding species like these isn’t just interesting for its own sake. It is also our best evidence to understand how evolution produces new species. This is particularly interesting in a region like Wallacea, which played such a significant role in the development of evolutionary biology. The observations that Wallace made around this region led him to discover evolution by natural selection, work which was published jointly with Charles Darwin in 1858 in the same journal where our sunbird paper has just appeared.
One of the observations that inspired Wallace’s evolutionary thinking was the importance of biogeographic barriers. Wallace noticed that the animals found on Sulawesi are markedly different from those on neighbouring Borneo, evidence that species would evolve on one island and then have difficulty crossing over. This boundary came to be known as Wallace’s Line. We now understand that it represents the beginning of the deep waters of the Wallacea region, which persisted even when sea levels were lower, unlike the shallower waters of the adjoining Sunda Shelf which gave rise to land bridges. A similar barrier to the east came to be known as Lydekker’s Line. As seen in the map below, the range of the Olive-backed Sunbird (in yellow) is currently thought to cross both Wallace’s Line and Lydekker’s Line, while the Black Sunbird (in purple) stops at Wallace’s Line but crosses Lydekker’s Line. It’s quite remarkable to imagine these dainty little birds maintaining gene flow across barriers which block so many other organisms! Our work, however, has indicated that the Olive-backed Sunbird populations on either side of Wallace’s Line actually represent separate species. The same is true of Black Sunbird populations divided by Lydekker’s Line. Modern evidence has actually reinforced Wallace’s original ideas, showing once again that these Lines represent significant biogeographic barriers that block gene flow in most animals.
Map showing populations sampled for our new paper. We found evidence that the Olive-backed Sunbird is actually composed of separate species in the Philippines (“Garden Sunbird”). the Sunda Shelf (“Ornate Sunbird”), the Wakatobi Islands (“Wakatobi Sunbird”), and the islands from Sulawesi to the Sahul Shelf (“Sahul Sunbird”). We also found that Black Sunbirds in New Guinea are strongly genetically divergent from those in Sulawesi. These findings reinforce the importance of biogeographic barriers like Wallace’s Line and Lydekker’s Line to evolution.
Both evolutionary biologists and ecologists are gaining new insights from large datasets on the traits and genomics of species. However, as these datasets are organised by species, they rely on our species lists being accurate in the first place. Data from “species” like the Olive-backed Sunbird or Black Sunbird might prove misleading, as each of these actually represent multiple species. Meanwhile, a small population like that of the Wakatobi Sunbird may not be included in such a dataset at all if it isn’t recognised as a species.
To quote an 1863 paper by Wallace, the world’s species represent “the individual letters which go to make up one of the volumes of our earth’s history and, as a few lost letters may make a sentence unintelligible, so the extinction of the numerous forms of life which the progress of cultivation invariably entails will necessarily render obscure this invaluable record of the past”. It is therefore an irrevocable loss to the world, to humanity, and to science when a species goes extinct while still unrecognised, “uncared for and unknown”.
Hoga, one of the Wakatobi Islands where sunbirds were sampled for this study. It has been a privilege to see such beautiful places and animals for this research.
While the Wakatobi Islands are biogeographically “remote” due to their small size and the permanent water barriers that surround them, it is worth noting that they are not the stereotypical “desert islands” Western readers may imagine. The islands have been part of important shipping lanes since at least the 14th century, and the people of the Wakatobi are known for their maritime traditions and unique language. As Dr David Kelly, the second author on the recent paper remarked: “The identification of the Wakatobi Sunbird serves to remind us that biodiversity is everywhere. This bird wasn’t found in a remote rainforest, but along the scrubby margins of busy towns and villages. Let us hope the children of the Wakatobi will be able to enjoy these special birds for generations to come.”
A relief from Borobudur Temple on Java, built over 1000 years ago. The birds in the yellow boxes were identified as Olive-backed Sunbirds by Ashari et al. (2021). Their fascinating paper is available at https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/tnh/article/view/253401
The beauty of the sunbirds has attracted scientists and artists for many years. Elsewhere in Indonesia, Java’s Borobudur (the largest Buddhist temple in the world, constructed in the 8th or 9th century CE) displays carvings of Olive-backed Sunbirds drinking nectar on its walls. The researchers who identified these carvings hypothesise that this symbolises the Buddhist ideal of enlightenment. Over a thousand years later, sunbirds are still enlightening us on the origin of species.
Female (top) and male (bottom) Olive-backed Sunbirds, from Shelley’s monograph, published 1876-1880 and available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.53516. Our new paper has found that the Olive-backed Sunbird is actually made up of at least four separate species.
An interview with basking shark researcher Haley Dolton
The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest shark in the world and is regularly seen swimming off the coast of Ireland. But how much do we really know about these ocean giants? In this installment of the EcoEvo blog our co-editor, Lucy Harding sat down with PhD candidate and basking shark researcher, Haley Dolton to find out what it’s like studying these enormous sharks.
Lucy: So Haley, what was it about sharks that first got you interested in them?
Haley: I remember first being interested in sharks when I was reading an encyclopedia of animals and I read that sharks were fish! And that kind of blew my mind because of what I knew about sharks, they were more like mammals in my head; really powerful, can birth live young, can be social. So yeah, that really intrigued me. And when I started reading about them (because this was before the Internet!), and learnt more, like that they have these amazing senses, electrical senses, and they’re capable of doing amazing behavioural things, I think that really sparked my interest in sharks.
Three basking sharks swimming together in Irish waters (photo captured by Haley Dolton).
Lucy: What sets basking sharks apart from other large-bodied sharks, for you? Why study them over white sharks for example?
Haley: I know this sounds almost like a throw-away answer but I actually kind of fell into basking shark research, and then I grew to love them! It was the first opportunity that I was given to work in shark research in the Isle of Man, working with Manx Basking Shark Watch, and I just remember the first time I saw one I was like, “Oh my God, what is that?!” and it came right up to the boat, and I remember being shocked by the size of it! Any shark documentaries I’d seen, the only sharks really that were featured years ago were great whites because they’re the most *air quotes* “exciting” shark, but then I saw this basking shark, with the way it swims and what it looks like and I thought “Oh that looks like a great white but it’s massive!”. I think that that really sparked my interest in them.
I learned more about them from being in the field and reading about them, I was trying to figure them out because they didn’t make a lot of sense to me. For example, they feed on zooplankton (so they’re filter feeders) and they’re the second largest shark species capable of undertaking powerful behaviours, but they feed on microscopic prey, all of this got me thinking “How are they doing this?!”. So I got obsessed with how weird they are! Like how are they behaving like they do?! As another example, they aggregate in large numbers, and we don’t really know why!
(Haley scans the water hoping to spot a shark fin. Photo captured by Dr Nicholas Payne).
We think it’s maybe related to mating or for saving energy, as they swim close to each other, but you know seeing that in the wild, for yourself, it really sparks the ideas in the mind and that set me on the path to studying basking sharks over any other shark species. That’s not to say that I’m not interested in other shark species of course, but more that it was just circumstance which led me to basking shark research in the first place, and then I fell in love with how weird they were!
Lucy: Well, that’s a good point you make in that, for research, you don’t always have to follow a particular species or a particular project. If you more follow opportunities, you never know where they’ll lead you to, and it could lead you into something that interests you more than you realised!
Haley: Yeah, that’s it! When I went to the Isle of Man, I learned loads about research and what areas of research there were. So, for instance, we were doing satellite tagging and collecting DNA samples and this is what I actually wanted to go into at the time, I wanted to use DNA to carry out genetic research of shark species and look at the evolution of traits. And so, I originally started off being interested in that question and then when I saw that they were doing this amazing satellite tagging work, with behavioral and social studies, whether that’s on the human side, so looking at the impact of anthropogenic activity on basking sharks, or whether that’s the social side of the fish themselves, studying how they gather in large numbers! So, that’s where I first got introduced into loads of different scientific areas of research which focused on this one species.
“without knowing enough about your study species, you can’t effectively conserve them”
Lucy: So, are basking sharks an endangered species?
Haley: Yes, basking sharks are an endangered species. They’re endangered globally which means that they’re of ‘conservation concern’. The reason that we’re researching them, particularly in the Payne lab at the minute, is because we don’t really know a lot about what makes them tick.
Aerial view of basking shark feeding off the West coast of Ireland. The gills can be seen fanned open as the animal filter feeds (photo captured by Haley Dolton).
We’re trying to learn more about them because without knowing enough about your study species, you can’t effectively conserve them. To give an example, imagine if someone was trying to conserve me and they saw one day – let’s pick a really bad day – where I’ve gone to the pub for hours, then eaten a pizza, and I haven’t really moved a lot. It might make people think, that’s all I do so let’s give her that all the time! Well, I wouldn’t last very long! I’d have a great time, but I wouldn’t be very healthy.
And that’s why we study these animals, to get as much information as possible to really affect conservation policy and change because these are vulnerable species.
There were massive fishing industries for them, including in Irish waters, and although we no longer have those fisheries, they’re still very vulnerable to being accidentally caught in things like pot lines or in other fisheries related equipment. They are a vulnerable species to lots of kinds of anthropogenic activity, making conservation efforts even more important.
Two basking sharks swim underwater, off the West coast of Ireland (photo captured by Haley Dolton).
Lucy: And you said they are filter feeders and very large, so does that make them a difficult species to study?
Haley: Basking sharks are an unusual study species for sharks, in that we can’t fish for them or attract them to the boat, so we can’t research them in the ways we would with other species where you can do that. So, we’re very dependent on where and when they turn up and whether there’s a good weather window for us to get out and study them, which off the Irish coast is quite rare! So, everything needs to come together to allow us to go out and study them and in reality, I only have around six days to get my tags deployed, which just highlights how difficult they are to study.
Lucy: What does your current research on basking sharks focus on?
Haley: My current research really focuses on getting back to basics of what we know about the general biology of these animals. For example, looking at their anatomy, whether that’s the larger structures or microscopic features. I’m looking at how their anatomy can explain their behavior. So, as I said there’s so much we don’t know about basking sharks.
At the minute, off the Irish coasts, we’re getting hundreds of them in the spring and then later on throughout the summer, and they’re displaying this amazing behavior where they all gather and swirl around each other, which we think might lead to mating, but ultimately we don’t really know why they display this behaviour! So, my research is really focused on trying to explain these behaviors by looking at their anatomy and physiology and what we as scientists, the general public, or policymakers, can do to effectively conserve this species in Irish waters.
“it’s a really exciting time to be part of basking shark research in Irish waters”
This is all going on at an exciting time for basking sharks in Irish waters! Recently it was announced that they’ll hopefully gain protection under the Irish Wildlife Act and there’s been incredible public support for this in Ireland so it’s a really exciting time to be part of basking shark research in Irish waters and to hopefully make a positive change within their conservation.
Lucy: And when you’re out in the field, how do you actually study these animals?
Haley: Well, firstly we work closely with other researchers and the general public who very kindly tell us where and when they see the sharks; we’ve had loads of great sightings (and skippering of boats!) from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) and individuals from different tour operators off the Irish coast like West Cork Charters (Dave Edwards) and Nick Masset (also part of IWDG), whose based near the Blaskets in Dingle, and of course, social media, which tells us where and when sharks have been seen. Then, we’ll scramble to get all our field kit ready and head over to the West Coast!
Normally with shark research we go out to a place where people are already fishing for sharks (for catch and release) or where we’re fishing for them for scientific research and this normally involves attracting them to the boat (with bait) but because we can’t do that with basking sharks, we basically drive the boat up and down the coast slowly, surveying with binoculars to try and spot that characteristic fin sticking out of the water.
The dorsal fin of a basking shark breaking the surface. Three other sharks can be seen finning behind also (photo captured by Haley Dolton).
Lucy: And so, when you do spot a fin, what happens next?
Haley: In basking shark research we actually deploy the biologgers without touching the shark at all (apart from the actual deployment itself). We carefully approach the shark in the boat, deploy the tag, and then we’re off again! This all takes a matter of seconds, so that we’re actually only beside the animal for a couple seconds as we deploy the biologger. Some sharks don’t even react at all, they just carry on swimming or feeding at the surface, which is a good indication they haven’t been disturbed.
I should point out that any research we do on sharks is conducted under license from the HPRA (Health Products Regulatory Authority) ethics board for animal studies, as to not cause stress to the animals.
Haley uses a radio antenna to listen for the radio tag they have attached to a basking shark (photo captured by Scott DeGraw).
Lucy: How is your research going so far? What are your plans going forward for the research?
Haley: The research that is focused on basking shark biology, ecology and behavior has gone really well so far and we’ve found out some really, really interesting things which I’m dying to talk about but I can’t at the moment, but watch this space! There’s lots of cool stuff coming soon!
My research interest has grown from my supervisors, Nick Payne, Andrew Jackson and Jonathan Houghton, supporting my curiosity for this species and a collaboration I made when I first started shark research all those years ago (Jackie and Graham Hall who ran Manx Basking Shark Watch). Now this project is growing and we’ve established new collaborations with some incredible researchers from Oregon State University (Big Fish Lab) and Stanford University, who came over this year for fieldwork. Together, we’re trying to collect and analyse even more data about what the sharks are doing and how they’re behaving. There’s been lots of steep learning curves with doing this research as well, but overall, it’s gone really well and we found out some really cool stuff, which will hopefully come out soon!
“if you do see something, take lots of pictures”
Lucy: That’s great, I can’t wait to see what you’ve found out! Well, for my last question, as a lot of our readers may not necessarily be in the scientific field, is there any way they could get involved in conservation efforts or research to help these threatened sharks?
Haley: Yes! People can get involved by reporting their sightings of any sharks to groups such as the Irish Basking Shark Group and Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and these can feed into scientific research. Also, if you do see something, take lots of pictures because then it’s possible to identify individuals by nicks and cuts on their dorsal fin and this is a great example of a non-invasive way of looking at social behavior or whether sharks are returning year on year to an area, indicating it might be an important area for feeding or breeding or pupping.
You can also get involved with any campaigns that you see going on for the protection of these animals. Support from the public, alongside the work and support from Minister Noonan and TD Jennifer Whitmore is actually what was instrumental in the recent campaign to have the basking shark added to the Irish Wildlife Act; it was a great campaign led by the Irish Basking Shark Group to get basking sharks protection in Irish waters and part of that was a petition that was signed by the general public. It gained incredible support from the public, with I think over 20,000 signatures, which is amazing and hopefully they’ll be protected under Irish law soon.
Haley is a PhD student in Zoology at Trinity College Dublin, and you can find her on Twitter @haleydolton. Haley’s work has been funded by the Irish Research Council, with support from the Fisheries Society of the British Isles. Nick Payne is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
We can now use acoustic recording equipment to monitor all the sounds produced in an ecosystem. By recording and listening back to sound in this way, we hope to capture useful information about nature. One way to do this is using ‘acoustic indices’, mathematical summaries of the acoustic information contained in audio recordings. But how reliably do such indices actually reflect the biodiversity many of us are trying to monitor and understand?
What started as a good excuse to take a break from thesis writing (while still being productive), ended up being two of the best days I’ve ever had in college – the 2020 Zoology/Botany Postgrad Symposium.
The audience settles in for the second day of presentations.
For two days we were treated to the most incredible talks on a wide range of topics, covering theoretical, lab-based, and field work. It was incredible to see the wide range of research being done in the department. It’s difficult to keep up with everything that’s going on, but these talks gave a great insight into some of the incredible work being done.
Last month, the Zoology Department’s Dr. David Kelly launched his first book of Japanese short form poetry, Hammerscale from the Thrush’s Anvil. At the launch of the book, David invited us in the audience to try our hand at writing our own haikus.
Taking him up on his challenge, and taking inspiration from his book, a few of us in the School of Natural Sciences have penned our own poems based on our areas of study. We even have a contribution from David Kelly himself!
Trying not to sacrifice coherency at the alter of syllable number was a rather new struggle for most of us, but we managed and, I’d like to think, emerged with a greater appreciation for the poets in our midst. Read on for our science-y foray into the arts!
In the years to come, 140 ecologists working in Ireland will look back with fond memories of being part of the inaugural meeting of the Irish Ecological Association (24th-26th November). We will remember hard-hitting plenaries, compelling oral presentations, data-rich posters, influential workshops and the formation of the IEA’s first committee. The lively social events might be harder for some of us to remember… Continue reading “Ecology & Science in Ireland: the inaugural meeting of the Irish Ecological Association”
There are a lot of how-tos on the internet (Thanks Buzzfeed!). You can life-hack yourself into an efficient machine, but before my first day at TCD I couldn’t seem to find a good article to put my nerves at ease. Once you’ve applied and been accepted to grad school it seems like it should all be a bit relaxed, but the night before I started I was a bundle of nerves. There are a few articles that are helpful, like this one from Next Scientist, but most articles I found are pretty vague. Though this is not comprehensive or exhaustive, a list of tips from my first few months are included below. Continue reading “How to start a Ph.D (or how to try, at least)”
Earlier this month, postgraduate students of the Zoology department compete in the fourth annual ‘School of Natural Sciences Lightning Talks’ alongside students and staff from Botany and Geology.
We all presented 120-second snapshots of our research and were judged by a panel. Judges included the Head of the School of Natural Sciences Professor Fraser Mitchell, Science Gallery’s Aine Flood and Trinity’s press officer for the Faculty of engineering, mathematics and science, Thomas Deane.
Zoology had two winners on the night, Darren O’Connell (@oconned5) for his presentation on ‘Character release in the absence of a congeneric competitor’ and myself, Rachel Byrne, on my research titled ‘Parasites of badgers in Ireland- an untold story.’
Professor William Campbell with Professors Celia Holland (front right) and Yvonne Buckley (front left). Back row L-R Professor Holland’s parasitology research group: Dr Peter Stuart, Gwen Deslyper, Maureen Williams, Rachael Byrne and Paula Tierney
“Parasites are not generally regarded as being loveable. When we refer to people as parasites we are not being complimentary, we are not praising them. We tend to think that a parasite is the sort of person who goes through a revolving door on somebody else’s push. This is unfair. It’s unfair to real parasites… It is time for parasites to get a little more respect!” – Professor William C. Campbell during his 2015 Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
In 2015, Prof. William C. Campbell, a Trinity Zoology graduate, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his discovery of ivermectin. The drug can be used to treat a wide range of parasites, but is most widely known for its effectiveness against river blindness. In 1987 the pharmaceutical company Merck enabled the free distribution of the drug to developing countries.
This Nobel Prize, which Prof. Campbell shared with his then colleague Prof. Satoshi Ōmura, is an important accomplishment not only for the Professors themselves as the cherry on top of their careers, but it is also important for the wider academic community.
This Nobel Prize is of importance to what Prof. Celia Holland described as ‘the international worm community’. This community has been struggling for many years to get recognition and funding. This prize therefore finally highlights the importance of parasitic worms. A lot of these parasites are often, despite their wide prevalence, classified as ‘neglected tropical diseases’. Neglected tropical diseases mainly affect the poor communities and are often forgotten in research and in the ‘public health agenda’. It remains to be seen whether some parasites will ever be able to shake their neglected status, but this Nobel Prize and associated international attention could be a great step in the right direction.
Hopefully, other pharmaceutical companies will take note of this prize. Giving away lifesaving medicine should be celebrated. We all know of the negative press pharmaceutical companies have gotten such as the recent price hikes in epi-pens. However, we tend to forget and ignore when pharmaceutical companies go to great lengths to help those in need. I see this prize also as a celebration of Merck for showing how it can be done differently. Because, really, what is the point of us producing any medical research if it doesn’t translate into affordable medicine?
During Prof. Campbell’s visit to TCD, the provost announced a new lectureship position in parasitology in honour of Prof. Campbell and the work he has done for the international worm community. Needless to say that this position would not have existed without Prof. Campbell’s Nobel Prize. Parasitology is a struggling field worldwide and every lectureship position is one to be valued and celebrated. This lectureship shows the commitment of the university to parasitology and will reinforce Trinity’s leading role in parasitological research within Ireland.
Additionally, this is an inspirational story for a lot of people. The story of ivermectin is a great motivation for parasitologists like myself. I work on a parasitic nematode called Ascaris, which infects 800 million people worldwide every year. Much like river blindness, it is also a neglected tropical disease, and as is often the case for these types of diseases, there isn’t much interest or funding going around. So it’s great at the start of my PhD to see that this type of research can also be honoured and valued.
I’ve read interviews of Prof. Campbell where he said that this prize meant the end of his retirement. I’m sorry to hear that his well-deserved retirement has been shaken up, but Prof. Campbell took one for the team and is promoting parasitic worm research to whoever wants to listen, just as he did before, only now he has a broader audience.
Author: Gwen Deslyper (seen charming Bill at 1:49 )
