Worms About Town

Worms About Town is a citizen science project to perform the first Toronto-wide screen of microsporidia infection in nematodes! Nematodes are small (~1 mm long) worms that live in the soil and are commonly found in rotting fruits. Many pathogens infect nematodes, including a group of mysterious fungal parasites called microsporidia. Every year, we collect rotten fruit samples around Toronto to find wild nematodes and any microsporidia infections inside them. This will let us understand more about the presence and health of Toronto’s nematodes, and help us to find new and interesting species of microsporidia!

The goals of the project are to:

1. Identify new nematode and microsporidia species

2. Study how geography and time impact microsporidia infections

3. Teach and involve the Toronto community in exciting science!

Sign up to receive a nematode collection kit: https://forms.gle/tJSP9HL1LUMo5jP3A. Sample collections begin every year near the end of August and continue through early November.

Sampling wild nematodes from rotten fruits is fun and easy! In addition to the simple guide included in your collection kit, you can also view our instructional video!

Thank you for signing up and we look forward to doing cool science together!

- Ed and Jonathan

OUr findings from 2024

13 members of the Toronto community participated in the inaugural year of the Worms About Town project in 2024. Together, we discovered 60 nematode samples and 4 microsporidia infections. Nematodes and microsporidia were found in 27 locations all across Toronto, from Etobicoke to Scarborough. Back in the lab, we performed genetic sequencing to identify the species of the microsporidia parasites and their nematode hosts. We are currently drafting a publication to share our exciting results with the scientific community!