{"id":33,"date":"2023-10-02T17:48:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T17:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/?p=33"},"modified":"2023-10-31T17:43:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T17:43:14","slug":"database","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/database\/","title":{"rendered":"Parasite database provides global access"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data about tiny parasites, whether collected more than a century ago in Bolivia or last week in the Galapagos, play a key role in tracking biodiversity and disease globally. A Nebraska researcher is making it easier for scientists worldwide to access this information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott L. Gardner, curator of parasitology for the University of Nebraska State Museum, has hundreds of thousands of parasite samples at his fingertips \u2013 <\/a>mites, ticks, lice, fleas, tapeworms, trematodes and more. They\u2019re on slides in cabinets, in vials of ethanol, in tubes in ultra-low temperature freezers \u2013 and now some are available via online database.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Scott Gardner and lab technician Allison Hearty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The museum\u2019s Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology houses the second-largest collection of parasite samples in the Western Hemisphere, eclipsed only by the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution. Nebraska\u2019s collection includes samples from all continents and oceans, is continuing to acquire individual researchers\u2019 collections and is a critical resource for scientists everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two National Science Foundation grants \u2013 totaling more than $900,000 \u2013 have partially funded digitization of the lab\u2019s collection. Specimen data and actual images of the parasites have been uploaded to the Arctos database, a collection management system for natural and cultural history museums and collections.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hundreds of cabinet drawers filled with samples. The numbers on the tubes refer to levels of solution added to keep the samples in perfect condition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe make sure that specimens that are collected are kept in the best condition for the use of people to document biodiversity in the world,\u201d said Gardner, also a professor of biological sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovering new parasites and<\/span> tracking where known ones show up <\/span>helps scientists understand diseases of both humans and animals,<\/span> Gardner said.<\/span> To address this critical need,<\/span> parasitologists gathered in 2012<\/span> at the Cedar Point Biological Station in Nebraska<\/span> and developed a cooperative protocol <\/span>for sharing and acting on essential information <\/span>about the evolution, ecology and epidemiology of parasites <\/span>across host groups, <\/span>parasite groups, <\/span>geographical regions and ecosystems.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting plan helps scientists understand, anticipate and respond to the impact of accelerated environmental change on parasite distribution. The DAMA protocol has now been implemented a couple of times \u2013 once to devise a plan to stop transmission of Lyme disease in Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providing scientists access to data about parasites will be key to efforts to predict their paths and fight the diseases they cause in the future, Gardner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A 1928 Amphilina bipunctata trematode sample from an Oregon sturgeon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Scott Gardner looks at a flea sample from an Oklahoma prairie dog colony. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Collections from around the world are preserved in the State Museum’s parasitology lab. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gardner evaluates tapeworm samples. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gardner assesses another tapeworm sample. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Multiple species of Triatoma brasiliensis, commonly known as kissing bugs, are preserved in the parasitology lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data about tiny parasites, whether collected more than a century ago in Bolivia or last week in the Galapagos, play a key role in tracking biodiversity and disease globally. A Nebraska researcher is making it easier for scientists worldwide to access this information. Scott L. Gardner, curator of parasitology for the University of Nebraska State […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[129,130,134,133,128,12,132,131,127],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","tag-biodiversity","tag-biological-sciences","tag-digitization-of-biodiversity-collections","tag-ecology-and-evolution","tag-harold-w-manter-laboratory-of-parasitology","tag-national-science-foundation","tag-open-access-to-research-data","tag-parasitology","tag-scott-gardner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":659,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}