Minor projects
Two male parasitoid wasps (Melittobia acasta), fighting to the death. (Credit: Tabitha Innocent)
A parasitoid wasp (Nasonia vitripennis) emerging from a blowfly. (Photo credit: Sarah Reece)
Green turtle hatchling (Chelonia mydas).
In addition to our main research themes, we have dabbled or are dabbling in, the following areas:
- Asking how maternally transmitted immunity to malaria parasites is shaped by drug treatment of maternal infections and parasite genetic variation
- Historic and contemporary molecular evolution and phylogenetics of rodent malaria parasites.
- Testing whether the benefits of mounting inflammatory immune responses to cure severe disease in early life turn out to be costly later in life
- Integrating experiments with theory via collaborations with mathematical modellers
- Genomics and transcriptomics of virulence (harm caused to hosts by parasites)
- Evolution of variable phenotypes through noise in gene expression and bet-hedging.
- Curating, archiving, and making available for purchase stocks of the largest and most diverse collection of rodent malaria parasites in the world as part of Edinburgh’s European Malaria Reagents Repository. http://www.malariaresearch.eu
- Examining how interactions between relatives and over resources shape social traits, from offspring sex ratios to lethal combat, in parasitoid wasps (Nasonia, Melittobia) and bean beetles (Callosobruchus)
- Asking why the sex of sea turtles (Chelonia, Carretta) is determined by incubation temperature