Parasite microbiome project: Grand challenges

Abstract

The first Parasite Microbiome Project (PMP) Workshop (January 9-14, 2019, Clearwater, Florida, United States) hosted researchers from across continents and disciplines to lay the foundation of the PMP consortium. The PMP vision is to catalyze scientific discourse and explorations through a systems approach, toward an integrated understanding of the microbiota of parasites and their impact on health and disease. The participants identified knowledge gaps and grand challenges in the field of host-parasite-microbe interactions summarized here. The PMP will provide an interactive centralized platform and resource for transdisciplinary collaboration to propel the field of parasitology forward by disentangling complex interactions between parasites and hosts, their respective microbiota, and microbial communities in the parasite's direct environment (Fig