Pegine Walrad is an Anniversary Research Lecturer in Molecular Parasitology appointed to the Department of Biology in celebration of the University of York’s 50th Anniversary and a member of the Centre for Immunology and Infection. Training originally as a zoologist at Michigan State University (BSc) and veterinary nurse (NC, USA), Pegine developed research interests in pathology, molecular biology, and developmental genetics during her PhD working on flies and yeast at Stony Brook University, NY. Pegine shifted fields to molecular parasitology when she secured a Wellcome Trust-funded Post Doctoral position examining developmental regulators of the Trypanosoma brucei lifecycle at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently developing her independent research career in Leishmania spp. parasitology at the University of York and was recently awarded a prestigious New Investigator Research Grant by the MRC to pursue trans-regulators of Leishmania spp. differentiation to human-infectious forms.

Leishmania spp. Trypanosoma brucei Developmental regulators RNA biology Pegine’s laboratory works on kinetoplastid parasites which cause human disease worldwide; afflicting the poorest of society. The Leishmaniases currently infect 12 million people with 2 million new cases annually. It is the second biggest killer of parasitic diseases and 70% of those infected are under 15yrs old. No vaccine exists, available treatments have toxic side effects and resistance to existing treatments is on the rise.

Research centers on regulators of Leishmania parasite differentiation that enable human leukocyte infection, with emphasis on post-transcriptional control as the primary mode of gene regulation. Leishmania parasites infect distinct host environments and this requires concise and responsive adaptation to survive. Gene regulators and signaling pathways that initiate parasite response to host cells and enable adaptation have yet to be identified and are key to combating the diseases caused by these parasites. Regulatory systems enabling parasite development are characterized using a combination of molecular, biochemical, genetic and bioinformatic techniques, utilising transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to isolate human-infectious stage specific regulators.