Nosema ceranae, a microsporidian parasite, is a honeybee pathogen. Like other parasites we study, it is an obligate intracellular parasite. Our project goals are to develop tools that would aid bee scientists in investigating host/pathogen interactions and find new treatments for severely infected hives.
To reach our goals our main objective is to develop a method for the in vitro propagation of spores. We anticipate future objectives to include testing culture derived spores in bees, screening drugs for efficacy against Nosema in vitro, and testing field isolates for drug resistance.
Although inefficient, the technique has been shown to work in some insect cells.
