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Dr Andrew Jackson
BSc MSc DPhil

Contact

A.P.Jackson@liverpool.ac.uk

+44 (0)151 795 0225

+44 (0)151 795 0225 Ext. 0225

Research

Research Interest 1

My research plans in the immediate and long-term are based on recent research into cell surface gene families of parasite genomes. Genes expressed on the surfaces of parasites are instrumental to the host-pathogen interaction, frequently employed in antigenic variation and therefore are usually the most dynamic features of parasite genomes. Making sense of the enormous diversity and atypical evolution of these important features has formed the core of my recent work in Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Plasmodium, Candida and other parasites. In particular, I have discovered a recent contraction in genetic variation in the Human parasite Trypanosoma brucei that has resulted in increased recombination among its variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes. The task now is to apply my knowledge of reference genomes to molecular variation in the field, studying VSG evolution across populations and timescales to understand the importance of antigenic diversity to the severity and epidemiology of disease.

Research grants

Antisense inhibition to study Bodo saltans – Bodobacter symbiosis

GORDON AND BETTY MORE FOUNDATION (USA)

May 2020 - May 2024

2014 allocation - Wellcome ISSF non clinical fellowships

WELLCOME TRUST (UK)

May 2015 - October 2018

New approaches to a livestock trypanosomiasis vaccine: targeting the bite-site by immunization with novel metacyclic-stage parasite antigens

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

November 2018 - August 2022

Rethinking ‘impossible’: creating a platform for developing novel vaccines against animal trypanosomiasis in Brazil

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

December 2018 - April 2020

Genomic analysis of antigenic diversity in Brazilian Trypanosoma vivax strains

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

August 2018 - February 2019

Variant antigen profiling: a novel genomic tool for diagnosis and surveillance of animal African trypanosomiasis

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

February 2016 - February 2019

A Collaborative Initiative to Develop Animal Trypanosomiasis Vaccines in Brazil

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

July 2018 - June 2020

Molecular genetics of farm animal protozoa

ROYAL THAI EMBASSY

September 2012 - August 2015

Bench fees for Alessandra Romero Ramirez

PRESIDENCIA DEL CONSEJO DE MINISTROS (PERU)

September 2016 - September 2020

Challenging trypanosome antigenic variation paradigms using natural systems

WELLCOME TRUST (UK)

April 2018 - October 2024

An Analytical Tool to Transform Genomic Approaches to Nagana

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION (USA)

November 2013 - April 2015

Inside the Trojan horse: systematics of Acanthamoeba spp. and their endosymbionts

LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON (UK)

June 2012 - June 2014

Evolutionary genomics of free-living and parasitic amoebae

LEVERHULME TRUST (UK)

August 2014 - July 2017