Parasites – organisms that live inside another creature and cause harm to the host.

Studying parasites is not what most biology researchers care about, but Dr. Brian Fredenborg is not one of them.  The Assistant Professor in the Biology Department loves to find out more about the pests, especially parasites that infect the oysters of the Laguna Madre.

Of course, many people enjoy eating oysters, and if they do, Dr. Fredensborg’s research has relevance – parasites can infect humans when they eat the oysters raw – the preferred way to eat them.  Valleyites are among those who harvest Laguna Madre oysters – the public health concerns for local residents are obvious.

The life cycle of the parasite infecting our local oysters involves three hosts – a snail, an oyster, and finally a warm-blooded animal, such as a bird or human.  The bird’s feces contain the eggs of the parasite which then returns to infect another snail which passes the parasite on to the oyster.  Of course, if a human ingests the parasite, the cycle ends.  But, that same human may experience severe abdominal pain when the parasite lodges in the intestine.  Though not fatal, the victim may require hospitalization, as victims as far away as Korea and the Philippines can attest.

As yet, it is not known what particular species of snail hosts the parasite, nor is it known how the parasite affects the growth and eventual size of the oyster – two important questions for the oyster industry.  Dr. Fredensborg hopes to answer those questions and has assembled a team of students – both graduate and undergraduate – to help him find those answers.  They gather samples in the field, perform dissections in the lab and perform other research functions under Dr. Fredenborg’s tutelage.

At present, three undergraduates are working on the research.  One is funded under the National Science Foundation’s Undergraduate Research and Mentoring Program in the Biological Sciences and the other two by a grant for UTPA’s Faculty Research Council.  The students continue to work through the summer months, adding to the body of knowledge and honing their own research skills.

Seniors J. J. Ramirez of San Juan and Laura Partida of Mission prepare
slides of oyster tissue for examination.

Dr. Fredensborg, like other researchers, does not operate in a vacuum.  He has been in contact with Dr. Sammy Ray, a distinguished marine biologist at Texas A&M University at Galveston.  Dr. Fredensborg hopes the results of this project may lead the way for future collaborations with colleagues in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico as well as other areas of the Gulf of Mexico where oysters are commercially harvested. He currently enjoys the support of UTPA’s Coastal Studies Laboratory on South Padre Island which is a vital component to coastal research for the Biology Faculty at UTPA.

Undergraduate researchers J. J. Ramirez and Laura Partida remove tissue from oysters harvested from the Laguna Madre as part of research into parasites that infect oysters.

“We are in a good place here at UTPA.  We can get funding for minority students that provides unique opportunities for undergraduate research.  That is good for the students and it is good for the people of the Rio Grande Valley”, says Fredensborg.

And it is a good thing for UTPA as he gathers new knowledge with local and global impact.

Undergraduate research assistant J. J. Ramirez removes oysters from their shell as Dr. Brian Fredensborg approaches.