Speaker biographies

Catherine graduated in 2017 with an integrated Masters in Biology from the University of Sheffield. After graduation, she joined London School of Tropical Medicine as a Scientific Officer working on a project investigating the genetics of attractiveness to malaria mosquitoes in the UK and The Gambia. In 2020, she moved to Edinburgh to begin her PhD. Catherine is currently a postdoc in Prof. Sarah Reece’s lab, and is due to begin her role as Research Co-lead on a NERC-funded project investigating how daily rhythms shape malaria parasite transmission and evolution in late May. 

Andy Waters has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the molecular cell biology of malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp) with a particular emphasis on parasite transmission. He and his co-workers pioneered stable genetic manipulation of Plasmodium berghei and has continued to develop and refine these enabling technologies that underpin the whole field of malaria cell biology and genetics whilst simultaneously disseminating the tools and methodologies throughout the community. 

The main focus of his group has been to understand malaria parasite transmission combining reverse genetics with pioneering meta-analyses of in-house large-scale datasets which became publicly available community cornerstone resources.  This approach identified sex-specific signalling pathways as well as translational repression as mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation in sexual development of malaria parasites.

Latterly, Waters' group identified the master regulator (AP2G) that determines irrevocable commitment to gametocyte development, the first step of transmission.  This finding was exploited to develop experimentally inducible gametocytogenesis thereby uncovering the early genes associated with gametocytogenesis and gender determination which form the basis of ongoing research.

Andy Waters has received numerous marks of esteem, such as honorary positions at Edinburgh University, Imperial College and the Gulbenkian Institute: he is a member of EMBO and a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2021 he was awarded the Sir James Black Medal by the RSE for lifelong contributions to the Life Sciences. He was Director of Evimalar an EC-funded global network of >80 malaria research groups (2009-2015).  He has been a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow 2008-2022, and became Director of the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology in Glasgow in 2013 leading it until 2023. He led the School of Infection and Immunity at Glasgow through its transition from an Institute. He has been to the fore in leveraging Scottish Government funds to build Malawian owned and managed Clinical laboratory facilities (the Blantyre-Blantyre laboratory now mirrored in Zambia) and co-founding a Beit Trust MSc training scheme that brings Malawian and Zambian students to Glasgow and engages Glasgow academics in strengthening science in Africa.

Dr Stew Burgessis the Head of the Vaccines and Diagnostics Department at the Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh. He also leads the sheep scab research group, which focuses on developing novel tools for the control of sheep scab, caused by skin infestation with the sheep scab mite, Psoroptes ovis. Recent developments include a commercially available sheep scab blood test, which can detect infested animals before the appearance of clinical signs and also the first prototype sheep scab vaccine, which significantly reduces mite numbers and the size of the skin lesions, offering a more sustainable method of scab control in the future. Stew also leads several sheep scab control programmes across the UK, including the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE)-funded sheep scab control programme in England, a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded control programme in Northern Ireland and a Scottish Government-funded control programme on the Western Isles of Lewis & Harris.

Maria Forlenza is Professor of Comparative Immunology at The Roslin Institute part of the University of Edinburgh (UK). She has always had an interest in the evolution of the vertebrate’s immune system and therefore, specialized in Comparative Immunology. The idea that apparently simple animals such as fish and amphibians displayed an immune system almost has complex as that of mammals, has always fascinated her. In her group she stimulates the use of various animal species, including (transgenic) zebrafish, common carp, tilapia, salmon, as well as chicken and pigs and of various infection models (e.g. viruses, bacteria as well as parasitic infections) to study host-pathogen interactions and to better understand the functioning of the immune system of animals. Finally, her group uses this fundamental knowledge to develop vaccination strategies, with a special focus on nucleic acids-based vaccine

Dr Ting Shi is a Chancellor’s Fellow and Infectious Disease Epidemiologist with particular interest around respiratory disease. Ting's group have been using statistical modelling and systematic approaches to generate epidemiological evidence. They often engage with patients, public and policymakers to answer critical questions that will develop a pathway for evidence based clinical services and vaccination policy. For example, they are keen to investigate the role of common respiratory infections in winter time in order to mitigate the NHS winter pressure.