The Prize honours the late Odile Bain’s commitment to medical and veterinary parasitology and the spirit of collaboration she fostered among biologists, veterinarians, physicians, and fundamental and applied parasitologists around the world.

Odile Bain was a great supporter of early career parasitologists, and the Prize is designed to reflect this support. The Prize is awarded in association with Merial and Parasites & Vectors and is presented to two early career scientists at an international conference each year.

This year, the winners are Abdul Jabbar, University of Melbourne, and Xiaoyun Wang, University of Chicago, for their contribution to veterinary and medical parasitology, respectively. BugBitten speaks to Abdul and Xiaoyun about their win, career so far and their views on the future for their research fields.

Meet Abdul Jabbar, veterinary parasitologist at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Abdul discusses his career to date, tells us what has influenced his career and predicts the future trends for veterinary parasitology. Read our interview with him in full here.

Xiaoyun Wang works at the University of Chicago and his background is medical research. Xiaoyun graduated in China before moving to Chicago to undertake his post-doctoral research. He speaks to BugBitten about his research so far, what he plans to do next and tells us why there are so many questions left to answer in parasitology.

The nominations for the 2016 Odile Bain Memorial Prize are now open. Please visit the Prize website for the criteria and instructions on how to submit nominations.