Good Sam and the Kissing Bug

By now, everybody knows that the new hit show Good Sam (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11055882/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk) was filmed at UTM and the Maanjiwe nendamowinan building (read more here about MN: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/facilities/building/maanjiwe-nendamowinan) is featured in the first episode.

Let me tell you another link between the show and UTM: Lange and Orchard Lab research focuses on the kissing bug (Rhodnius prolixus), and how to control the transmission of Chagas disease. Yes, that Chagas disease, that baffles the team of residents led by Dr. Griffin (you have to watch to see which one).

Prof. Lange wrote: Rhodnius prolixus, known as the kissing bug, gorges on a blood meal from the faces of humans. This bug is a principal vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite causing Chagas disease, a disease endemic to Central and South America. T. cruzi resides in the insect’s hindgut and the parasite is passed to humans in the urine eliminated immediately after blood gorging. Our research examines physiological events associated with blood feeding in the kissing bug, and we have identified the neurohormones and receptors that control the production of urine, and therefore that control the transmission of Chagas disease.

Now you know!