Parasitic diseases of humans and livestock are widespread across the world, and have disproportionate effect in developing countries.  There,they can dominate the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of the poorest people and exert considerable constraint on development.

How can we researchers help?  We are a centre focusing on some of the most devastating parasites – the malaria parasite; human- and livestock-infective trypanosomes, and the leishmanias, which afflict humans.  In this age of genome sequences and advanced molecular and genetic technologies, we study basic biological processes that are of fundamental importance to the parasites, so we can understand and pinpoint the ‘how’ of their lifestyles.

Furthermore, we examine some of these basic processes at higher biological levels, such as populations of parasites during infection or even in populations of hosts in the field – this gives the bigger picture that is important for understanding bigger ‘hows’ and maybe even ‘why’ of lifestyles.

The ultimate aim, to develop new approaches to control of parasites and the diseases they cause, sees us identifying and pursuing promising leads, including possible drug targets, means of diagnosing these diseases, and tools for dissecting the spread and diversification of parasites in the field.