Free-living amoebae (FLA) like Naegleria, Balamuthia and Acanthamoeba can cause severe human disease. Rare diseases caused by FLA pose even greater challenges due to the technical difficulties in culturing and researching these pathogens. While scientists have accumulated knowledge on how to study these organisms over decades, research funding is limited due to the rarity of the diseases.

Additionally, FLA researchers have not been able to adopt newer molecular techniques like NexGen sequencing, RNA silencing, and transfection to further our understanding of these unique organisms. However, without understanding how they cause disease, creating effective treatments remains difficult. FLA is a challenging organism to study due to its unique biology, which makes culturing and manipulation prone to technical challenges.

This Methods Collection aims to provide insights into culturing, assay development, molecular techniques, and infection model systems. Moreover, international standards are being developed to ensure medical devices do not promote FLA-human interactions. These standards are critical in assuring patient safety and must be conducted and understood by FLA scientists. This collection seeks to support new and existing FLA scientists in their research as the science of FLA continues to develop. Harmonization of FLA methods will support scientists as advancements are made to understand how FLA causes disease and develop drug discovery against these pathogens.