Memorial Prize 2025

The Odile Bain Memorial Prize (OBMP) recognizes early career scientists who have made significant contributions to the medical and veterinary parasitology fields, in memory of Odile Bain, an exceptional and inspiring female scientist.

Since 2014, the Prize honours the late Odile Bain’s commitment to medical and veterinary parasitology and the spirit of collaboration she fostered among biologists, veterinarians, physicians, and fundamental and applied parasitologists around the world. Odile’s primary expertise was the systematics of filariae, vectors and transmission of filariae, models of filariasis, and the Litomosoides sigmodontis murine model.

 The 2025 edition of the OBMP is awarded to Guangxu Ma and Lucas de Sousa-Paula. In this blog, we hear from Guangxu about what the prize means to him:

I still remember the moment I read the letter: 

“On behalf of the Odile Bain Memorial Prize (OBMP) Committee, it is a great pleasure for me to inform you that you have been selected as a 2025 prize winner. Your studies on the molecular basis of parasitism, including work on haem transport and inflammasome modulation, have garnered international attention. Of particular interest are studies focusing on the adaptation and survival strategies of parasitic nematodes, with a specific emphasis on host-parasite interactions and drug resistance. Additional contributions to parasitology include novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underpinning parasitism, which lay the foundation for the development of targeted interventions. This research reflects Odile Bain’s legacy of combining scientific ingenuity with practical applications in parasitology.”

To see my team’s work described in those terms, and to have it associated with Odile Bain’s legacy, is deeply humbling.

The research: what we discovered, with specific highlights

My research group has been exploring several interlinked molecular and functional themes in parasitic nematodes. Below are some of the key findings from our recent papers (including those cited in the OBMP announcement), and how they connect.

One of the most significant papers is “Nematode serine protease inhibitor SPI-I8 negatively regulates host NF-κB signalling by hijacking MKRN1-mediated polyubiquitination of RACK1” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40032982/). We found that SPI-I8, a protein secreted by blood-feeding nematodes (e.g., Barber’s pole worm and hookworms), suppresses inflammation responses of animals. In mouse models, recombinant SPI-I8 from N. brasiliensis (hookworm of rats) protected against experimental colitis and sepsis—showing both local and systemic inflammation suppression.

This work ties directly into “inflammasome modulation” and “host-parasite interaction” parts of the OBMP citation: showing how parasites don’t just evade immunity but actively modulate key inflammatory pathways.

Other works: haem transport, adaptation, drug resistance, molecular survival strategies

These studies form a coherent picture of:

• How parasitic nematodes get essential nutrients (e.g., haem) from the host, and the molecular machinery involved (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36716341/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39256727/).
• How they adapt to host environment and modulate host immune responses—beyond passive evasion, active suppression (as in SPI-I8 work) (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34126100/) 
• How drug treatment, environmental pressures, and host immune backgrounds select for adaptation in parasites—leading to resistance and shifts in survival strategies (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38806077/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34270617/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37430357/).

These are precisely the kind of molecular survival strategies, adaptation, host–parasite interaction, drug resistance, etc., that the OBMP citation highlighted.

What winning the Odile Bain Memorial Prize means to me

Being selected as a winner of the OBMP for 2025, with this specific citation, validates the path we’ve taken: combining molecular biology, genomic / proteomic work, functional assays, and translational considerations. It tells me that the community values not just descriptive parasitology, but mechanistic insight and a bridge toward interventions.

It’s also personally meaningful because our papers each required persistence. That said, the prize does not mark an endpoint; rather it strengthens my resolve to push further.

Refined reflections & advice with examples

Because specific papers accelerate learning, here are more concrete lessons drawn from them:

Haem acquisition is not just a basic metabolic need — it’s a vulnerability: Because parasites depend on host haem and can’t synthesise it, the haem transport pathways are potential drug or vaccine targets. We demonstrated which transporters are stage-specific and how their regulation shifts under host immune pressure.

Effector molecules as windows into host–parasite crosstalk: The SPI-I8 paper shows that secreted nematode proteins can hijack host cellular regulatory machinery. If you want impactful work, choose effectors that are conserved, secreted, and have plausible access to host cell pathways. Use of animal models to test function in vivo: The colitis and sepsis models in the SPI-I8 study showed that what we see in vitro (molecular interaction, suppression of inflammatory signals) can have real organismal outcomes. That translational dimension is often what gives work broader impact.

Drug resistance studies need to link molecule to population: It’s one thing to see up-regulated candidate resistance genes in the lab; it becomes more powerful when you sample parasites from the field, correlate mutation frequencies with treatment history, and test functionality in the lab.

Looking forward: directions inspired by these papers

Building on these precise findings, my group is planning:

To map haem transporters in parasitic nematodes more comprehensively, including structural biology, to see if small molecules or antibodies can block them without harming hosts.

To identify the full suite of secreted effectors like SPI-I8, particularly those that may modulate inflammasomes (beyond NF-κB), to get a wider view of immune modulation.

To collaborate with in vivo disease model groups to test whether modulation of inflammatory signalling via effector administration (or inhibition) can be safe, effective, and specific. 

To model how drug resistance evolves under combined pressures: immune modulation, nutrient limitation (e.g. haem scarcity), environmental stresses. Can multi-factor interventions slow resistance emergence?

Closing thoughts

The OBMP citation singled out haem transport, inflammasome modulation, host–parasite interactions, drug resistance, and mechanisms of parasitism—all areas in which our recent papers have made progress. It’s gratifying to see that the careful molecular and functional work, often technically challenging, is being seen as both novel and relevant.

I’m grateful to the OBMP Committee, to my co-authors, to my funders, and to the students and postdocs who’ve done the day-to-day lab work. I hope our future work continues to reflect Odile Bain’s spirit: combining scientific ingenuity, deep biological understanding, and practical application for control of parasitic diseases.

— Guangxu Ma, Zhejiang University, China

September 2025