Fascinating and revolting, the significance of leeches to medicine spans thousands of years. One species has even been approved by the U.S. FDA as a surgical device. This project will accomplish the first comprehensive study of medicinal leeches since 1846 by examining collections in the world's natural history museums and by collecting new material from leech diversity hotspots in Africa, Asia and Australia. Through examinations of anatomy and genomic data, the number of medicinal leech species, their geographic ranges and genetic diversity will be determined. Simultaneously, the nature of species of bacteria living symbiotically in leeches will be determined.
This work has the potential to impact the field of biotechnology insofar as many bioactive compounds have been isolated from medicinal leeches including anticoagulants, and other protease inhibitors. Only one species of medicinal leech is afforded protection under international biodiversity and conservation initiatives. The knowledge base generated from this project will form the basis for determination of the conservation status of these reviled, but widely used animals. This project will influence grade school students through classroom science magazine articles and will integrate an undergraduate student from an urban university into the research projects of a PhD student.
