In natural systems, hosts are usually co-infected by multiple parasites, and many parasites can infect several host species. Our research on host-parasite interactions aims to incorporate this realistic, multiple host - multiple parasite/pathogen context. Specifically we (i) evaluate the competitive interactions that occur between co-infecting parasites and the immune response to understand rates of disease spread and their impact on host health; and (ii) strive to elucidate the factors that drive host shifts disease emergence in multi-host parasites.
We aim to tackle the one host - one parasite framework that dominates the study of disease ecology and evolution.
The Pedersen Group is part of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of Immunity and Infection Research in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.
Latest news:
- We have a postdoctoral research associate position available in the lab. The deadline is February 23 2012, and please email Amy if you have questions. More information here.
- Many members of the Pedersen group (Sarah, Emily and Amy) will be presenting their research at the British Ecological Society meeting in Sheffield, UK from 12 - 14 September 2011.
- Courtney Thomason was awarded two grants to understand the dynamics of coinfection in wild populations of Peromyscus in southwestern Virginia (Mountain Lake Biological Station). She was awarded a Sigma Xi Grant - in - Aid and a grant from the American Society of Mammalogy!
- There are several new papers from the Pedersen group:
- Emily Griffiths just published an analysis of recent patterns and consequences of coinfection in humans in the Journal of Infection.
- Sarah Knowles recently published a meta-analysis of Malaria and helminth coinfection in lab mice. in the International Journal of Parasitology.
- Our newest paper, titled Wild Immunology, an opinion paper for Molecular Ecology has just been released online. This manuscript, written with Simon Babayan, describes our vision for bringing immunology into the study of wild systems.
- This paper has been featured in two recent articles in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment and the Lab times. The full Lab times interview is also available here.
- Hannah Tidbury published her first paper on immune priming and susceptibility to viruses in Proceedings of the Royal Society.
- The Pedersen Group is part of a new research group at Edinburgh called "Wild Immunology", check out our new website
- The Pedersen Group Webpage is NOW live, but still under construction!
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