Question: Why are you using worms for your test. Is there something about them that represents part of the human body (or similaqr

Rachel McMullan answered on 8 Nov 2015:

Hi
Thanks for your question.
The worms are really simple but they have lots in common with us. They have neurones, a gut, a reproductive system like us but they also share a lot of chemicals with us and these chemicals are often used in similar ways.
I’m really interested in how animals respond to infection and these responses have some similarities in worms and humans (and lots of other animals). Hopefully by studying how worms respond to infection we will learn more about how we respond to infection.
This story might help explain what I mean a bit better.
Imagine you’re an alien and you arrive on earth. The first thing you see is a motorbike. You want to know how the motorbike works but it’s really, really complicated and if you take it apart you might not be able to fix it. But next to the motorbike is a pedal bicycle. It looks a bit like the motorbike, both have wheels and handlebars, but it is a lot simpler. You take the wheel off the pedal bike and it doesn’t work anymore. When you put the wheel back on it works again. The wheel must be important to make the pedal bike work. If wheels are important to make the pedal bike work perhaps they are also important to make the motorbike work.
Its a bit like this with worms and humans. The worm is the pedal bike in my story and humans are the motorbike. Things we learn from doing experiments in worms might help us understand more about human responses to infection.
Hope that answers your question
Rachel