Autoimmunity

Bidisha Ukil is pursuing her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Larisha M. Lyndem in the Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. She has been registered for PhD programme since 2013 and since then been working on the nervous system and energy metabolism of Hymenolepis diminuta, a cestode parasite that affects rodent hosts but is a silent threat to human population as well. She has made this approach as a cestode parasite’s survival solely depends on its nerve-muscular co-ordination that monitors its migration and attachment within host’s body. Antagonistic effects of the leaf extracts of three species of Senna plants may interrupt such activities of the parasite and thus may lead to their expulsion from the host body. Ms. Ukil has experienced and well trained in raising the parasitic model in rodents and maintain its life cycle in the laboratory. She has been exposed to many fi elds of parasitology through her participation in conferences nationally.