Although this parasite is common very little is known with regard to the native immune response, the development of age resistance and the development of immunity after infection.
Since the parasite resides within the epithelial cells the hosts defense is challenged with a hidden threat, especially in newborn piglets which do not have a fully functional immune system.
Therefore, both the development of local immunity in newborn piglets and the development of local immune responses against Isospora suis as an intestinal pathogen are in the focus of this work, which will be conducted at the Institute of Parasitology and Zoology (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Anja Joachim) and the Institute of Histology (Supervisor: Dr. Kirsti Witter) in collaborations with other institutions in the HIP Doctoral programme.