Science Outreach Opportunity: Worms About Town

[Jonathan Tersigni]

Hi Toronto Urban Growers,

I'm emailing to advertise an exciting opportunity to participate in an annual science outreach project run by the Reinke lab at the University of Toronto. If you are curious about the microscopic organisms living in the soil and want to play an important role in scientific research by collecting environmental samples, then this project is for you!

Project background

Nematodes are small (~1 mm long) soil-dwelling worms that are commonly found inside rotting fruits. Nematodes are one of the most abundant animals on earth and are found in many natural environments, including our local gardens and parks. Our lab studies a group of fungi parasites called microsporidia, which are known to infect and decrease nematode populations. 

Project goals

The Worms About Town project is the first annual Toronto-wide search for wild nematodes and their microsporidia parasites. We aim to: 

1. Find and identify new nematode and microsporidia species
2. Determine the impact of geography and time on microsporidia infections
3. Teach and involve the Toronto community in cool science! 

Where you come in

A nematode collection kit will be delivered to each project volunteer. Follow the instructions in the kit to collect rotten fruit samples from your garden or local park. Back in the lab, we'll look for any wild nematodes found in the samples and see if they are infected with microsporidia parasites. Throughout this process, we'll continuously report back on the results we discover together!

Worms About Town 2024

In the first year of the project, 13 volunteers collected over 120 environmental samples across Toronto. More than 60 samples contained nematodes, and we identified and characterized 4 microsporidia infections! See attached for a video of wild nematodes and a microscopy image of microsporidia infection.

How to participate

Use this google forms link to signup for a free nematode collection kit delivery: https://forms.gle/vtTPzzGKn7e8LcUN9

More detailed instructions for collecting samples are found inside the collection kit and on our lab website at https://www.reinkelab.org/worms-about-town

Sample collections will run from September to early November!

Thank you for reading this email and I look forward to working with anyone interested! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at jonathan...@mail.utoronto.ca

Best,

Jonathan

Jonathan Tersigni

PhD Candidate, Reinke lab

Department of Molecular Genetics

University of Toronto

jonathan...@mail.utoronto.ca