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Andrew F. Read

Andrew F. Read

Professor of biology and entomology and Alumni Professor in Biological Sciences

514B Mueller
Phone: 867-2396
Lab Address: 518 Mueller
Lab Phone: 867-2397
Lab: http://www.thereadgroup.net

Websites:

Education:

  1. Ph.D., University of Oxford, 1989
  2. B.S., University of Otago, New Zealand, 1984

Honors and Awards:

  1. Fellowship Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, 2006-2007
  2. Fellowship of Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2003
  3. Scientific Medal, Zoological Society of London, 1999
  4. Young Investigator Award, American Society of Naturalists, 1991
  5. Thomas Henry Huxley Award, Zoological Society of London, 1991

Research Interests:

We work on the ecology and evolution of infectious disease. We exploit modern notions of adaptive evolution to attack biomedically and theoretically challenging phenomena like virulence and infectiousness, adaptation to new hosts, vaccine escape, and drug and insecticide resistance. Our work involves evolutionary biology, ecology, parasitology, microbiology, genetics, and immunology. Currently, much of the work concerns the three players that cause malaria (the parasite, the vertebrate host, and the mosquito), as well entomopathogenic fungi and Marek’s disease of chickens. In the past, we also have worked on the parasites of Daphnia, African trypanosomes, and parasitic nematodes of mammals.

Selected Publications:

Read, A. F., T. Day, and S. Huijben. 2011. The evolution of drug resistance and the curious orthodoxy of aggressive chemotherapy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA June 20. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1100299108.

Read, A. F., P. A. Lynch, and M. B. Thomas. 2009. How to build an evolution-proof insecticide for malaria control. PLoS Biology 7(4): e1000058.

Wargo, A. R., S. Huijben, J. C. de Roode, J. Shepherd, and A. F. Read. 2007. Competitive release and facilitation of drug resistant parasites following therapeutic chemotherapy in a rodent malaria model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104: 19914.

Råberg, L., D. Sim, and A. F. Read. 2007. Disentangling genetic variation for resistance and tolerance to infectious diseases in animals. Science 318: 812.

Blanford, S., B. H. Chan, N. Jenkins, D. Sim, R. J. Turner, A. F. Read, M. B. Thomas. 2005. Fungal pathogen reduces potential for malaria transmission. Science. 308: 1638.

de Roode, J. C., R. Pansini, S. J. Cheesman, M. E. H. Helinski, S. Huijben, A. R. Wargo, A. S. Bell, B. H. K. Chan, D. Walliker, and A. F. Read. 2005. Virulence and competitive ability in genetically diverse malaria infections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 102: 7624.

Mackinnon, M. J. and A. F. Read 2004. Immunity promotes virulence evolution in a malaria model. PLoS Biology. 2(9): e230.

Gandon, S., M. J. Mackinnon, S. Nee, and A. F. Read. 2001. Imperfect vaccines and the evolution of pathogen virulence. Nature. 414: 751.
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