I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in the University of Oxford where I do research in Keith Gull's lab on trypanosomatid parasites. My work is currently funded by The Wellcome Trust.
I study the two parasites 
Leishmania mexicana and 
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 life cycle stage differentiation. Leishmania parasites alter their cell and flagellum shape to adapt to a host. I am particularly interested in the generation and function of these specialised cell shapes and the impacts and implications this has for understanding 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 
Wikipedia and the game 
OpenTTD. My illustrations have appeared in books, papers and theses around the world, and even on a t-shirt!
