International Federation of Nematology Societies www.ifns.org

Home
About IFNS

Membership

Community

Resources

Events

Industry

  

Nemas - A world of beauty

Dorsal view of head region with spiral amphidial fovea of a marine epsilonematid nematode

What's New

Congratulations to the Nematological Society of Southern Africa, host of the 6th Nematology Congress to be held in 2014 in South Africa - more details to follow

New Nematode Educational Aids

Nematode Slide Presentation


Fostering Communication Between Nematologists Worldwide

The goals of IFNS are:
. to foster global awareness of nematodes and advancement of the science of nematology;
. to serve as a worldwide interface for nematology societies, promoting communication, education, research and outreach.

 

Why are nematodes such amazingly interesting organisms?

Nematodes or roundworms are everywhere.
They are among the most harmful organisms of crops, especially in the tropics, but they are also very promising as natural antagonists that can be used in bio-control programmes against pest insects.
Because of their ubiquitous presence, overwhelming densities and diversity (sometimes compared to insects) free-living nematodes are an ideal tool for biodiversity studies.They are used as bio-indicators of pollution in both terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Nematode species such as Caenorhabditis elegans are also used as model organisms for investigating diverse biological processes.They have short generation times, are easy to culture and their genome size is small. Since it became apparent that they show remarkable similarity of genes with those in humans, they have been introduced in studies on aging and pathological processes found in humans.

 

 
     

 

Home | About IFNS | Membership | Community | Resources | Events | Industry

© 2010, IFNS. All rights reserved. Please direct website feedback to the Web Manager.