About Me

... well mostly my science.

I am currently a PhD student at The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology where I do research in Keith Gull's lab on trypanosomatid parasites. My work is funded by The Wellcome Trust.

I study the two parasites icon Leishmania mexicana and icon Trypanosoma brucei which cause the tropical diseases leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis (more commonly referred to as sleeping sickness) respectively. I don't work directly on the diseases or their treatment but rather on the basic cell biology of the parasites.

My work focuses on L. mexicana, more specifically its growth and differentiation and the impacts and implications this has for flagellum biology and host pathogen interactions. The techniques I use focus on microscopy, and I have a particular interest in automated image analysis - a key tool in the search for drugs.

In addition to science I also have a keen interest in illustration and have provided large contributions to several open-source/community projects including icon Wikipedia and the game icon OpenTTD. My illustrations have appeared in books, papers and theses around the world, and even on a t-shirt!