This Postdoctoral Research Fellowship award to Dr. Evelyn C. Rynkiewicz is supported by both the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Office of International Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation. During the 24-month fellowship, Dr. Rynkiewicz will work on a project titled, "Using parasite removal to elucidate mechanisms driving immune phenotype variation and co-infection patterns in wild rodents" under the sponsorship of Dr. Amy B. Pedersen at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, UK.
With the emergence of new, virulent diseases that often originate in non-human animals, and the continued invasion of parasites and pathogens to new areas, it is important to study how variation in host-parasite interactions influence host health and disease spread. This project will investigate the interactions between co-infecting parasites and multiple aspects of the host immune system to determine what effects these interactions have on individual health and parasite community assembly. The host-immune system will be tested using multiple parasite removal treatments, where two important parasite groups will be removed from individual mice in a wild wood mouse population. The proposed research will address the following questions: 1) How is the host immune system influenced by co-infection? and 2) How does order of infection influence parasite co-infection patterns and the immune system?
Testing rigorously how diverse host-parasite interactions influence individual risk of infection and transmission in natural settings will provide better prediction and management of outbreaks of emerging zoonotic diseases. The methods developed in this project will be directly applicable to parasite management in other common wildlife populations or in rare or invasive species of conservation interest. In addition to benefits derived from the research, Dr. Rynkiewicz will also mentor undergraduate and graduate students in this research.
This award provides a unique opportunity for a US scientist to collaborate with foreign scientists, and utilize the unique facilities, expertise and experimental conditions available abroad.
