¡Bienvenidos a Peru! It seems like yesterday my flight arrived in Peru and the international research adventure began. It was the University of Arizona BRAVO! program that presented me the chance to visit Lima, Peru to do international research with the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) in conjunction with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Three full months of studying tapeworms in one of the most historical of Latin American countries was definitely going to be an experience.

Peru is your basic parasite repository. If you are looking for a parasite, Peru likely has it. It probably falls right behind Africa, the mecca of all parasite reservoirs. Just ask fiftypercent of the students who went to Peru. Those fifty percent will tell you those parasites are out there and they are looking for a host like you. One really does not have look much farther than the water source. You can find pretty much everything from your basic bacteria to hookworms to Cyclospora cayetanensis, named after none other than the Universidad Cayetano. For this reason, Peru was the perfect site for me to do research on Taenia solium, a tapeworm spread via unsanitary measures and improper pork consumption.

Studying the parasite was a bit intimidating to me at first. Even though I had become very familiar with the T. solium’s lifecycle, routes of transmission, resultant diseases, and treatments, I still felt like a novice. My actual hands-on experience with the parasite was non-existent. My two mentors reconfirmed my suspicions that I was indeed green with regard to this beautiful specimen. They really knew so much more about the parasite, having worked on it for several years. When Dr. Robert Gilman and Holger Mayta, a PhD student, took me under their wings and assisted me with my project, the whole picture started to make a lot more sense. Sure I knew why I had come to study this parasite, but the implications of the study really had not hit me until I saw what was happening down there. The study was a big collaboration of data that amounted to one nice attempt at eradicating sources of T. solium in the Peruvian population.

My project was an examination of different primer sequences within the Tso31 and Tso22 genes suspected to be involved in oncosphere attachment to intestinal tissue. “Molecular Tools for Diagnosing Taenia solium” was a project set up to diagnose T. solium via DNA isolation of the species in stool, independent of all other species in close relation (i.e. Taenia saginata, Hymenolepsis nana, Echinococcus granulosis, and Ascaris spp.). A few different ways of taeniasis diagnosis already exist, such as PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism assay (RFLP) and ELISA, but PCR solely for the diagnosis of T. solium, however, had yet to be performed via shed eggs in stool.

Once I began collecting samples, isolating DNA, and performing PCR, I started to see the difference in laboratory practices compared to the states. Universities in Peru are definitely not like your average Tier I universities in the US. Research was definitely different. Everything was reusable; almost nothing was expendable. Research grant money never seemed to have so much value. Immediately, I found it a bit difficult to adjust having learned stringent techniques to ensure the pristine, cleanliness of my products. A tip was a tip in the states, but a tip lost in Peru was money lost towards someone’s salary. Even paper towels of nominal value were used sparingly.

Regardless of frugality at UPCH, I was still able to obtain results. Two of the designed primers from the Tso31 gene showed promise for diagnosing T. solium in stool, even with very little DNA present. Specific PCR bands at around 227 base pairs for primers Tso31-F1 and Tso31-R6 showed nearly 100% accuracy with isolated DNA from stool using the Fast DNA kit (QBiogene) and the optimized PCR master mix. Tso31-F1 and Tso31-R1 primers showed about 50% variability between having one band or two bands. The second band was probably a result of primer sequences amplifying normal flora bacteria found in Peruvians or human DNA found in the stool. Since the primers did not amplify anything but the suspected 451 base pair T. solium strand from pure isolated DNA from T. solium proglottids it is likely that this primer set would not function well for diagnosis in stool (as indicated by the second band). The Tso22 primers also did not show promise for diagnosis of T. solium, although they did show uniqueness for isolating T. saginata. The next focus was to look for a multiplex that could distinguish whether the Taenia spp. eggs were T. solium or T. saginata (since eggs are indistinguishable via microscopy). Additionally, a new focus was directed towards determining if PCR was effective using copro positive samples (samples positive for taeniasis via ELISA antigen/antibody testing uncoupled from presence of eggs). Some research was performed, but the results were inconclusive due to the storage materials’ inhibitory effect on PCR. A continued study on the copro positive sampling using this PCR mix is underway. Further results and analysis are currently being conducted before attempting to put in for publication. The results of this study are extremely important with regard to accurately diagnosing possible taeniasis patients and removing sources of taeniasis by correct treatment to prevent population outbreak.

Many of the results of the BRAVO! experience, be it lab results or life in general, have been positive for me. Visiting the country of Peru could not have been more perfect. It truly gave me a chance to reflect on who I was. Perhaps the fact that Peru is a developing country allowed me to gain new perspectives on many of the world issues today, and to truly see how good we have it in the US. It also gave me a chance to sincerely appreciate world history. It is hard to grasp the magnificence of Machu Picchu until you see it face to face, or appreciate the vast impact of the Spanish conquest in all of Peru. History is written all over that country, even in the faces of the people. I was even fortunate enough to see other cultures besides that of Peru such as Argentine or Uruguayan. It is through seeing other cultures that you begin to appreciate your own.

There is no doubt that leaving your country and your home is a difficult task. It is even difficult running your own project and troubleshooting with people who may or may not speak your native language. In spite of difficulties, the experience is well worth it. The people I have met along the way have been great networking partners and great friends. My laboratory knowledge has increased several fold. Moreover, the experience has helped me to learn to adapt, have patience, and become more culturally aware.

I would like to give a big thank you to the BRAVO! program at the University of Arizona, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, the NIH, and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for supporting my research endeavors abroad. I would also like to extend a special thank you to those who advised and supported me throughout my stay in Peru: Dr. Charles Sterling, Dr. Robert Gilman, Holger Mayta, Carmen Taquiri, and Hugo Garcia. Finally, a huge show of appreciation should go out to Carol Bender and others with the BRAVO! program for making top-notch research experiences for undergraduate’s possible. Thank you all for helping me to have one of the best international experiences a person could ask for.

Emily Prendergast, BRAVO! student in Dr. Sterling’s Immunoparasitology lab at the University of Arizona