Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Parasitology

General Information

Our Department was established on June 26, 2001, along with other departments. Our Faculty relocated to the building allocated from the Faculty of Medicine on January 12, 2004; our Department served in this building with a single laboratory until 2024. In 2024, it moved to the main building of our Faculty next to the Animal Hospital and continues its activities in this new location.

Postgraduate education began with a doctoral (PhD) program under the Institute of Health Sciences in the 2005–2006 academic year. Following the establishment of the Institute of Graduate Studies on March 28, 2020, both PhD and master's (MSc) programs are currently conducted under this institute.

To date, 13 students have graduated from our PhD program and 8 students from our MSc program. Currently, 5 students are continuing their education in the PhD program and 3 students in the MSc program.

Units and Laboratories

Our Department is located on the 3rd floor of Block C at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Six units with distinct functions support our education, research, and routine diagnostic studies end-to-end:

• 01 Museum & Research (Parasitology Museum and Research Laboratory): An educational environment where helminth, arthropod, and protozoan specimens obtained from various animal species are exhibited, allowing students to visually examine parasite morphology. It is also the laboratory where scientific research projects are conducted, and microscopic examinations and morphological diagnoses of samples are performed.
• 02 Support (Preparation Unit): The support unit where stains, solutions, and culture media used in laboratory studies are prepared; cleaning, sterilization, and preservation of glassware are handled here. Preliminary preparations required by other laboratories are also carried out in this unit.
• 03 Diagnosis (Routine Laboratory): The diagnostic unit where feces, blood, and tissue samples from the field and clinics are examined parasitologically. Routine procedures such as fecal examination methods (flotation, sedimentation, native examination), blood smear preparation, and microscopic evaluations are performed in this laboratory.
• 04 Advanced Analysis (Molecular and Serology Laboratory): The unit where advanced methods are applied for the species-level differentiation of parasites and the highly sensitive diagnosis of infections. In addition to DNA isolation, PCR, and similar molecular techniques, serological tests such as ELISA, Western Blotting, and IFAT are conducted here.
• 05 Storage (Chemical Material Storage and Cold Room): The area where chemicals used in laboratory studies are stored under safe conditions. Temperature-sensitive reagents, samples, and biological materials are kept at appropriate temperatures in this facility.
• 06 Experimental (Intermediate Host and Vector Rearing Unit): A specialized unit where intermediate hosts and disease-carrying vectors (ticks, flies, mosquitoes, etc.) are bred and housed under controlled conditions to investigate the life cycles of parasites. This unit enables experimental infections and biological cycle studies.

Research Topics and Areas

Our Department provides consultancy services in line with requests from faculty clinics, veterinarians, and animal owners, operating as a diagnostic laboratory that evaluates incoming parasitological materials. Macroscopic, microscopic, serological, and molecular examinations of feces, blood, tissue, and ectoparasite samples are routinely carried out.

In addition to undergraduate and postgraduate educational activities, comprehensive research is conducted on diseases of major importance to Türkiye and our specific region. The epidemiological, economic, and public health dimensions of these infections are investigated, utilizing a combination of taxonomic, morphological, serological, and molecular (PCR, DNA sequence analysis, phylogenetic analysis) methods.

Main Research Areas

• Helminth and zoonotic infections: Helminth infections such as fasciolosis and trichostrongylosis, as well as cystic and alveolar echinococcosis (Echinococcus granulosus, E. multilocularis), toxocariasis (Toxocara spp.), and toxoplasmosis, which are of significant public health importance.
• Blood parasites and arthropodology: Serological and molecular detection of vector-borne infections such as babesiosis (Babesia bovis, B. bigemina) in cattle; investigation of pathogens carried by ticks, lice, fleas, and other arthropods.
• Wildlife parasite fauna: Detection of internal and external parasites in wild mammals such as foxes, roe deer, and badgers, as well as reptiles and rodents; introducing new species and new host records for Türkiye to the scientific community.
• Avian parasitology: Studies conducted in the field of ornitho-parasitology, with a particular focus on parasites in wild birds.
• Aquatic and bee parasitology: Research on fish parasites (Myxobolus, Ligula etc.) and honey bee diseases (Nosema spp., and bee pests like Aethina tumida).

The obtained parasite specimens are identified and archived in the Parasitology Museum within our Department; they are preserved as a reference collection for both educational purposes and future scientific studies.

Projects

In our department, 20 BAP, 3 TAGEM, and 11 TÜBİTAK projects have been successfully completed. There are currently 5 BAP and 1 TÜBİTAK projects ongoing.

Undergraduate Courses

The courses conducted by our Department are as follows:

• Semester IV: General Parasitology (1 Theoretical)
• Semester V: Helminthology (2 Theoretical, 2 Practical), Entomology (1 Theoretical, 2 Practical), and Parasitic Zoonoses (Elective - 1 Theoretical)
• Semester VI: Protozoology (2 Theoretical, 2 Practical) and Bee Diseases (Elective - 1 Theoretical, 1 Practical)
• Semester X: Clinical Sciences and Laboratory Diagnosis Group (Internship courses)

• Prof. Dr. Şinasi UMUR
• Prof.Dr. Ali Tümay GÜRLER (Head of Department)
• Prof.Dr. Cenk Soner BÖLÜKBAŞ
• Dr. Elif Burcu Gençay TOPÇU

Department of Veterinary Parasitology Retired Staff