Past group members

PhD students

  • Monica Acosta (2014-2019). Thesis: Within-Host Ecology, Drug Pressure and the Evolution of Drug Resistance. After a post-doc at University of Michigan, now a data analyst with Ranchobiosciences. 
  • Jo Ohm (2013-2018). Thesis: Mosquito Feeding and Fitness: An Exploration of Mosquito Diets and Behaviors that Impact Mosquito Fitness, with Applications for Mosquito Mass Rearing and Control. Now Research Scientist, Verily Life Sciences, Google.
  • Nina Wale (2011-2015). Thesis: Resource Competition and the Evolution of Drug Resistance in Malaria Parasites. Advisor: Read. Now post-doc, Duffy group, University of Michigan.  Hamilton Prize | Omenn Prize
  • Megan Greischar (2009-2014). Thesis: Predicting the Consequences of Diverse Life History in Malaria Parasites: Synchrony and Transmission Investment.. Advisors: Bjornstad, Read. Now post-doc with Nicole Mideo, University of Toronto.
  • Katey Glunt (2009-2013). Thesis: Understanding the Consequences of Sub-Lethal Insecticide Concentrations for Insecticide Resistance Management and Malaria Control. Advisors: Read, Thomas. Now post-doc with Krijn Paaijmans, ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Lindsay Beck-Johnson (2009-2013). Thesis: Temperature Impacts on Mosquito Population Dynamics and Malaria Transmission. Advisors: Bjornstad, Nelson, Thomas, Read. Now RAPIDD post-doc, Colorado State University.
  • Penny Lynch (2006-2013). Thesis: Mathematical Modelling of the Effects of Health Interventions on the Evolution of Life History in Disease-Causing Organisms. Part time PhD, Open University, UK. Supervisors: Read (Edinburgh, PSU), Grimm (OU). Now reverted to day job, continuing to collaborate with us from her home in Kent, England, all while being a part-time post-doc with Mike Boots, University of Exeter.
  • Katie Atkins (2006-2009). Thesis: Evolution and Epidemiology of Marek’s Disease. After a post-doc at Yale University with Alison Galvani, now on the faculty at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
  • Silvie Huijben (2006-2010). Thesis: Experimental Studies on the Ecology and Evolution of Drug-Resistant. After post-doc with Andrew Read, moved to Branco Weiss Fellow, Barcelona Center for International Health, Spain.
  • Vicki Barclay (2004- 2008; Wellcome Trust studentship). Thesis: Parasite evolution in response to blood stage candidate malaria vaccine. After a post-doc in the Read group, became a CIDD post-doc at Penn State University with Marcel Salathé. Now Medical Editor and semi-professional hardened bike nut, State College, PA, USA.
  • Gráinne Long (2003-2006; Wellcome Trust studentship). Thesis: Immunopathology and Virulence Evolution in Rodent Malaria. Post-doc with Andrea Graham, Institutes of Evolutionary Biology & Immunology and Infection Research at the University of Edinburgh. (Jan 1, 2008- April, 2009), then CIDD post-doc at Penn State University with Pete Hudson & Eric Harvill on Bordetella. Then post-doc with Mike Boots, University of Sheffield, UK (2009-10). Then MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2010-11). Now MRC Early Career Development Fellow, MRC Epidemiology Unit, Addenbooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge, England.
  • Katrina Grech (2003-2006). Thesis: The Ecology and Evolution of Malaria: Laboratory Studies of Plasmodium chabaudi and its rodent and insect hosts. Research scientist at Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh. From July 2008 Research officer, New South Wales Bureau of Crime and Statistical Research.
  • Andrew Wargo (2003-2006; Wellcome Trust studentship). Thesis: In-Host
    Ecology and Transmission Dynamics of Malaria Parasites.     Moved to a post-doc at USGS Western Fisheries Research Center and  Dept. of Pathobiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (lab). Since 2012, Assistant Professor, Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
  • Jaap de Roode (2001-2004; Darwin Trust Scholarship). Thesis: Within-Host Competition and the Evolution of Malaria Parasites. Winner, Ker Memorial Prize, best PhD thesis for preceding year, Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh. Marie Curie Fellow, University of Georgia, Athens. Now Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Emory, Atlanta. Certified brilliant.
  • Meghan Guinnee (nee Gannon) (2001-2004; NSF & ORS studentships). Thesis: Plasticity in Reproductive Traits. Post-doc doing research at Buffalo State College with Amy McMillan and developing a program to educate the public about genetics at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Now co-runs Catalyst Research, LLC doing data analysis/research design for human service organizations.
  • Lucy Crooks (1997-2004; MRC studentship). Thesis: Gametocyte Investment in Malaria. Post-doc with Sebastian Bonhoeffer at ETH Zurich. From 2008, post-doc, Department Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish Unit of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, then at Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden. Currently a Statistical Geneticist at Sanger Center, Cambridge, UK.
  • Sarah Reece (2000-2003; NERC studentship). Thesis: Evolution and Ecology of Sex Allocation. Lectureship at University of Stirling (2003-2004). From Jan 2005, NERC Fellow, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh. From 2007, Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, University Of Edinburgh (lab).
  • Heather Ferguson (1999-2002; Science Faculty Scholarship & ORS). Thesis: The Ecology and Evolutionary Implications of Malaria Parasite Virulence in Mosquito Vectors. Research scientist at Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre, Ifakara, Tanzania (2002-2006) and a BBSRC David Phillips Fellow at the University of Glasgow. Lectureship in the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow (lab).
  • Rebecca Timms (1997-2001; BBSRC studentship). Thesis: The Ecology and Evolution of Virulence in Mixed Infections of Malaria Parasites. Currently getting very rich in Corporate Finance, Bank of Scotland.
  • Katrina Lythgoe (1996-1999; BBSRC studentship). Thesis: Genetic Variation in Structured Populations: Space, Time and the Red Queen. Moved on a Wellcome Travelling Fellowship to Dept. Biology, UC San Diego; MSc in Science Communication (2003). Former editor, Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Now a Wellcome Trust Fellow, University of London
  • Alan Gemmill (1995-1999; NERC studentship). Thesis: Experimental and Comparative Analyses of the Evolutionary Ecology of Parasitic Nematodes. Currently a Senior Research Officer, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre,
    University of Melbourne.
  • Angus Buckling (1995-1998; MRC studentship). Thesis: Ecological and Evolutionary Effects of Intervention Strategies on the Transmission of Malaria Parasites. Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer, Oxford University. Now Professor of Systems Biology, University of Exeter, UK.
  • Louise Taylor (1993-1997; MRC studentship). Thesis: Epidemiological and Evolutionary Consequences of Mixed-Genotype Infections of Malaria Parasites. Post-doc and then Wellcome Research Fellowship, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh. Lab Manager, Institute of Stem Cell Research , University of Edinburgh. Now a mum in Pittsburgh, PA, and newsletter editor for the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.
  • Per Arneberg (1993-1996; research assistantship, University of Tromsø, Norway). Thesis: Commoness and Rarity Among Mammalian Nematodes. A Comparative Study of Parasite Abundance. Moved to a Norwegian Research Council Fellow, Tromsø University; then in Environmental Management, Polar Institute, Tromsø Norway; now at the Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø, Norway.
  • Stephanie Schrag (1989-1993; Marshall Scholarship, Oxford). Thesis: Factors influencing selfing and outcrossing rates in the freshwater snail, Bulinus truncatus.
    Moved to a Post-doc at Emory University, Atlanta; currently Epidemiologist, Respiratory Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

Post-doc, Fellows, Research Professors

Research Assistants

  • Chris Cairns (2013-2016). Now MPH student, University of Maryland.
  • Janet Teeple ( 2011-2016), split with the Thomas Group). Now full time with Thomas group.
  • Dannielle Kroczynski (2008-2010). Now administrative assistant, Penn State.
  • Kathryn Watt (2001-2003). Left to study a herbal medicine degree at Napier University. Graduated with a first class degree and is now a professional herbalist and RA, University of Edinburgh.
  • Brian Chan (1996-2011). Technician, University of Liverpool, UK. Now a technician with Judi Allen, University of Manchester.

Undergraduate Research Students (from 2003)

  • Joash Lake (2015-2019)
  • Eric Choi (2016-2019)
  • Briana McLeod (2014-2017)
  • Taylor Ziegler (2016-17).
  • Michelle Lai (2013-2017). Now at Mt Sinai Medical School. Evolution of drug resistance.
  • Josh Bram (2012-2016). Now at U Penn Med School. Evolution of drug resistance.
  • Rebecca Seliga, Penn State undergrad (2010-12). Life table analyses of mosquitoes
  • Courtney Babb, Penn State undergrad (2011-12). Sex ratio in avian malaria parasites
  • Melissa Moody, Penn State undergrad (2010-11).  The effect of caging on the dynamics of malaria infection in mice.
  • Lucas Nell, Penn State undergrad (2009-10). Vaccine-driven evolution.
  • Danielle Tomasello, Penn State undergrad (2008-9). Drug resistance in malaria.
  • Morven Carruthers, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2003) Project: The effects of the fungal entomopathogen, Beauveria bassiana, on the mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, and its capacity as a vector of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium chabaudi.
  • James Humble, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2003) Project: Host pathogen interactions between mosquitoes and entomopathogenic fungi.
  • Riccardo Pansini, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2003) Project: Social evolution of malaria parasites; the nature of in-host competition.
  • Nadine Randle, M.Sc. by Research in the Life Sciences, U. Ed. (2003) Project: Molecular detection and quantification of Plasmodium chabaudi gametocytes: A tool for in-depth analysis of parasite biology.
  • Michelle Helinski, M.Sc. in Medical Entomology & Evolutionary Biology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands [2001-2004]. U. Ed (2003) Project: Super- and co-infection in a rodent malaria model; within-host competition between virulent and avirulent parasites.
  • Liam Aye Maung, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2004) Project: “Maternal effects in Anopheles stephensi“.
  • Lynn Fitzpatrick, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2004) Project: “Malarial transmission in co-infected BALB/c mice”.
  • Arantxa San-Sebastian, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2004) Project:”Thermal biology of fungal-mosquito interactions”
  • Ruth Turner, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2004) Project: “Efficacy of fungal control of malaria-infected mosquitoes”
  • Lisa Macleod, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2004) Project: “Spatial cogntion in mosquitoes”
  • Silvie Huijben, M.Sc Zoology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands [2003-2005]. U.Ed. (2004/5) Project: “The role of drug treatment, in response to clinical signs, on within-host competition and relative transmission of malaria parasites.”
  • Hugh Sturrock, Zoology Honours, U. Ed.(2005) Project: “Fungal infection as a means to reduce malaria transmission”
  • Matt Wood, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2005) Project: ” Does the malaria parasite make the host more attractive to mosquitoes?”
  • Carina Crawford, Zoology Honours, U. Ed. (2005) Project: “Does the malarial parasite subvert the host immune response?”
  • Tom Black, Zoology Honours, U.Ed. (2006) Project: “Will the efficacy of fungal biopesticide control of malaria be affected by mosquito quality?”
  • Adam Saddler, Zoology Honours, U.Ed. (2006) Project: “Is Fungal Biopesticide Decay In Situ Equivalent to Lower Dose Exposures in Controlling Malaria?”
  • James Shepherd, Zoology Honours, U.Ed. (2006) Project: “Can we harness in host ecology to slow the spread of drug-resistant malaria?”
  • Rita Reyburn, Evolutionary Biology Honours, U.Ed. (2006) Project: “Drug resistance in Anopheles mosquitoes”