Dr Pegine Walrad

Position

Hon. Communications Secretary (2021-)

Senior Lecturer at University of York

Dr. Pegine Walrad is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Pathogen Biology in the York Biomedical Research Institute at the University of York. Trained originally as a zoologist and clinical veterinary nurse, Pegine explored her research interests in pathology and molecular biology during her PhD in Developmental Genetics at Stony Brook University.  Her PostDoctoral research pursued developmental regulators in Trypanosomes in the KR Matthews lab at the University of Edinburgh where she identified and characterised the first trans-regulator of a surface antigen and a novel pathway of mRNA nuclear export in Trypanosoma brucei. Her independent research currently focuses upon regulators of Leishmania differentiation to human-infectious forms. Her lab has recently identified the mRNA binding and whole cell proteomes of L.mexicana, identified and characterised the RNA binding protein targets of the first methylating enzyme implicated in Leishmania virulence, and quantitatively characterised the distinct swimming dynamics of Leishmania promastigote stages in 3D. Since 2013 she has been awarded an MRC New Investigator Research Grant, two joint Newton/MRC UK-Brazil Neglected Infectious Diseases grants and participates in two MRC Global Challenges Research Fund consortiums. She has hosted and continues to mentor an international group of outstanding junior scientists and has taught invited Parasite Molecular Genetics courses abroad. Her interest in the British Society of Parasitology stems from a deep belief in and commit to resource and protocol sharing, collaboration building, data communication and horizon expansion to create and promote opportunities in our research field for the next generation. She founded and maintains Leishmaniac.org with this goal in mind and is now adapting the BSP website to build educational tools and protocol sharing. Pegine’s hope is that she can help raise the profile and capacity of the BSP to harness, extend and network its members’ knowledge and resources as Hon. Communications Secretary. She seeks to streamline member interactions and outward message; advancing the BSP reputation for research excellence and multicultural diversity.

Pegine’s website