In the latest episode of Contagious Thinking, join CVR PhD student Jack Hirst and postdoc Connor Bamford as they chat with Dr Charles Masembe (follow him on Twitter:@cmasembe10) about his work on some of Africa’s most important animal viruses. Charles works currently on a virus called African swine fever virus (ASFV), which causes a deadly disease in… Continue reading →
Akira JT Alexander, Research Assistant, INFRAVEC2 Tell me about your background? My research has always been focused on interactions and sensing, in particular within host pathogen interactions. I have a BSc in Plant Science from Edinburgh University where I studied developmental switching in response to nutrient deprivation in the well-known plants, Fungi. I have an… Continue reading →
Stephanie Cumberworth – PhD Student, Kohl Lab Tell me about your background/ Why did you get into this field of research? I completed my undergraduate studies in Microbiology with Virology at The University of Leeds. During this time I spent a year at The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR, now part of The Francis… Continue reading →
Emilie Pondeville – Research Associate, Kohl Lab Tell me about your background and why you got into this field of research? During my Masters and PhD studies, I worked with the fly model Drosophila and also the Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit malaria to humans. In a different way to the fruit fly, female mosquitoes need a ‘blood-meal’… Continue reading →
Margus Varjak, Research Associate, Marie Curie Fellow, Kohl lab Tell me about your background? I did my bachelor and master studies in gene technology in Estonia at the University of Tartu. Following that, I continued in a PhD program with my supervisor Prof Andres Merits. As a PhD student, I studied mostly the replication complexes… Continue reading →
Claire Donald – Research Associate, Kohl Lab Tell me about your background? I did my undergraduate degree in Cellular Biology at the University of St Andrews. After that I did a Masters at Edinburgh Napier University in Drug Design and Biomedical Science. I first started working on mosquito-transmitted diseases during a lab placement as part… Continue reading →
Maria Vittoria-Mancini – Research Assistant, Sinkins Lab Tell me about your background? I did my PhD in Italy at the University of Camerino, where I studied bacterial symbiosis in Anopheles mosquitoes, and how these mutual and natural associations can be applied in vector (insect host) control strategies. During this time, I performed field studies in… Continue reading →
The words Glasgow, tropical and mosquito don’t go together often – you are far more likely to hear about the dreaded midge than hear about an infestation of an insect that prefers slightly warmer climes. However, here at the CVR, we have recreated the tropics within our insectary (a secure, cosy and very humid home… Continue reading →
We at the CVR were recently visited by retrovirologist Dr Kate Bishop (not that one) from the Francis Crick Institute in the centre of London. Like our own Dr Sam Wilson (not that one), Kate works on restriction factors and retroviruses. After our customary podcast was eaten by some terrifying space monkeys, we’ve instead discussed… Continue reading →
