Andrew Read

Professor of Biology and Entomology, Centre for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, USA

My colleagues and I attempt to exploit modern notions of adaptive evolution to attack biomedically and theoretically challenging phenomena like pathogen virulence, infectiousness, vaccine escape and drug and insecticide resistance. My research group mostly works on malaria, but we have or are also working with worms that parasitize humans, fungi that kill insects, bacteria that sterilise waterfleas and viruses that cause cancer in chickens.   Originally from New Zealand (source of charming accent), I did a D.Phil.at Oxford University in Evolutionary Biology, and after a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church, Oxford, I had various fellowships the University of Edinburgh before becoming Professor of Natural History there. I taught ecology, evolution, microbiology, and statistics. In 2007, we moved to Pennsylvania State University, where I write grants.