Schistosomiasis

Infection with blood-dwelling parasitic flatworms

Over 200 million people are infected worldwide - mostly children in the developing world.

There is just one drug on the market to treat this neglected tropical disease, and no human vaccine.

Our lab is searching for new anti-schistosomal druggable targets and lead compounds.

Schistosomes parasitize the host circulatory system. They can survive for years. (Someone in Wisconsin was even found with an infection lasting over three decades).

Each female worm can lay 100's-1000's of eggs each day within the infected host. Eggs cause disease pathology, such as irreversible organ scarring and fibrosis.

A nice background on the disease can be found at the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance.

March 2023

Master's degree student Isaac Kamara succesfully defends his thesis! 

February 2023

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy publication on the effects of macrocylic lactones on schistosomes, in collaboration with Zamanian and Humphries labs.

September 2023

Lab alum Hailey Johnson begins Postbaccalaureate position within the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the National Institutes of Health 

April 2022

Awarded UW Regent Scholar Grant to continue work on antischistosomal benzodiazepines.

March 2021

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases publication on the transcriptional response of parasites to in vivo chemotherapy.

Contact Us

Email: chanj@uwosh.edu

Office Phone: (920) 424-2039

Lab Address:

Chan Lab

Department of Chemistry

Halsey Science Center Room 417

921 Elmwood Ave

Oshkosh, WI 54901