Molecular Parasitology of Wildlife

Parasites are a major, under-measured component of biodiversity—and a key driver of wildlife health. The Kartzinel Lab is using our expertise in DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of wildlife parasites to modernize how parasites are identified and monitored in wild vertebrates. Our work uses molecular ecology approaches to convert parasite samples from wildlife into reference data that help improve detection across host taxa and geographies.

Modernizing—and connecting—for impact

Accurate molecular detection of parasite specimens depends on expert-verified reference datasets that match the region and host species being studied. For wildlife parasites, those resources are still exceedingly sparse. To close that gap, we’ve built transdisciplinary partnerships that connect veterinarians, traditional parasitologists, conservation non-profits, molecular biologists, and data scientists to link field expertise in wildlife health and ecology with scalable molecular tools

Wildlife veterinarian Ezequiel Vanderhoeven checks a two-toed sloth at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica

Early Discoveries

We are uncovering new host records, parasite species, and novel parasite lineages across wildlife including big cats, sloths, tapirs, foxes, peccaries, armadillos, and anteaters—highlighting how much parasite diversity remains undocumented when reference resources are missing.

Results are connected to ongoing research involving gold-standard parasitological approaches in the field. Researchers such as lab member Dr. Ezequiel Vanderhoeven DVM / PhD work to connect wildlife health assessments with the sampling and metadata needed to build reliable reference datasets—an essential bridge between classical parasitology and modern molecular detection. For example, in 2025 we reported the results from a traditional veterinary survey of gastrointestinal parasites infecting two- and three-toed sloths in Costa Rica that described more host-parasite interactions than has been described in the entire literature on sloths dating back more than a century. This was an important result in its own right, and now we are building on it to precisely identify and survey the distribution of these parasites across populations using DNA-based approaches in collaboration with the Sloth Conservation Foundation and partners.

→ Publication: Host specificity of gastrointestinal parasites in free-ranging sloths from Costa Rica
→ Seed Funding: Catalyst Award from the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Traditional gastrointestinal helminth identification requires either adult specimens from dead hosts (top; precise but difficult to replicate) or counts of eggs in feces of live hosts (bottom; imprecise but historically the only option for wildlife of conservation concern). Integrating field, museum, and lab methods, the Kartzinel Lab has created HelmBank as a resource for expert-verified sequence data from helminth specimens that enables parasite identification through DNA barcoding.

HelmBank: A DNA Reference Hub for Wildlife Helminths​

We are proud to be launching HelmBank as a repository of DNA barcodes linked to verified parasitic helminths, their hosts, and relevant metadata including the geography of sampling. Our goal is to make it easier for researchers and practitioners to detect helminths from wildlife—both in clinical settings and using non-invasive sampling in the field (e.g., fecal assays). These technological innovations will support biodiversity monitoring and understanding when host–parasite interactions intersect with humans and livestock.

Why it’s needed: No single, expert-curated reference dataset currently covers the breadth of hosts and regions required for molecular parasitology in the tropical Americas.

HelmBank is an open, expert-verified reference dataset for wildlife helminths that links voucher-backed parasite specimens to DNA barcodes, host species, and collection metadata. Our current physical collection includes 105 parasite specimens spanning 3 major helminth phyla—roundworms (Nematoda), flatworms (Platyhelminthes: cestodes & trematodes), and thorny-headed worms (Acanthocephala)—sampled from a wide range of Neotropical mammals, including sloths, tapirs, wildcats (jaguar, ocelot, puma), canids (crab-eating fox), opossums, armadillos, and peccaries.

This breadth makes HelmBank useful for wildlife biology and conservation, parasite biodiversity research, and One Health / conservation medicine—especially when parasites detections involve molecular assays that require regionally appropriate reference data for reliable identification (e.g., via non-invasive DNA testing).

105 specimens | 3 helminth phyla | 7 mammalian orders | field-to-sequence metadata linked
→ Explore the dataset

How we do it: We combine field-based sampling with reproducible lab and computational pipelines. Our workflow is designed to strengthen links that connect: 

1. Veterinary and environmental sampling of parasites from wildlife populations
2. Morphological and molecular verification of parasite DNA barcodes based on expert IDs
3. Improvement of existing protocols to reduce noise and enable comparison across studies
4. Integration with public datasets to expand interpretability across taxa and geography

Video detailing the lengths our lab members are going to in their efforts to establish a more modern and capable era for molecular parasitology.

​Latest HelmBank Release

We publish HelmBank in versioned releases to support reproducible research in molecular ecology, parasite systematics, and wildlife veterinary medicine.

Current release: Release R1 (March 2026) — 20 newly sequenced specimens of nematodes and cestodes from multiple Neotropical mammals (e.g., jaguar, tapir, opossums, armadillos, and sloths).

→ Release notes & technical summary
→ Download & explore the data
→ Story behind the science
​
Each release strengthens the reference library needed to translate wildlife parasite specimens—and non-invasive detections—into actionable identifications for conservation and health applications.

Partner With Us

We are actively seeking partners who value measurable conservation impact grounded in rigorous science—especially those interested in wildlife health, emerging disease risk, and biodiversity monitoring in the tropics.

We will soon accounce a new partnership to characterize the diversity of helminth parasites in sharks (!!) — so stay tuned!

We welcome conversations with:

• Conservation-focused foundations to help fill knowledge gaps
• Researchers and veterinarians interested in collaboration and data-sharing
• Philanthropic donors seeking high-leverage opportunities to build durable scientific infrastructure for human health and the environment — thank you for considering a donation to support this critical new initiative!

This page will expand as HelmBank datasets, publications, and applied outcomes accumulate.
We publish HelmBank in versioned releases to support reproducible research in molecular ecology, parasite systematics, and wildlife veterinary medicine.

Resources & Updates

Protocols for HelmBank and related applications: Sample collection, DNA extraction, PCR, sequencing. 
Teamwork in the field: Profile of Ph.D. student Cecilia Trani and her research on parasites of wildcats.
Scientific summary: Parasitic helminths of sloths in Costa Rica.
HelmCamp: Regular field-to-lab training in Molecular Parasitology