UTS student wins best PhD student presentation

Alison Ricafrente, a PhD student in the UTS School of Life Sciences, was awarded the best presentation award at the Irish Society of Parasitology for her work on uncovering the role of microRNAs in the development of Fasciola hepatica. The parasite, also known as liver fluke, infects the liver of various mammals, including cattle and sheep, and can cause significant economic loss to the livestock industry. Alison’s PhD project, under the supervision of Associate Professor Sheila Donnelly and Dr Nham Tran, uses bioinformatics approaches to study the parasite’s life stages.  Her work has provided new insights into the evolution of F. hepatica and the regulation of gene expression required to facilitate parasite development, maturation and invasion of host tissue.