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Project Summary:
This project investigates the zoonotic disease risks associated with African mole-rats, focusing on how environmental and physiological factors may influence their role as disease reservoirs. Mole-rats are subterranean and therefore often overlooked. However, they offer a unique opportunity to study disease transmission at the interface of wildlife, agricultural, and domestic settings. Through field assessments across diverse habitats and controlled lab experiments, the project will examine how variations in environmental conditions, like temperature and aridity, affect mole-rat disease susceptibility, thereby enhancing our understanding of zoonotic disease pathways and potential biosecurity risks.
Background:
Zoonotic diseases are a major global threat, affecting human health, biodiversity, and economic stability. Most zoonotic research focuses on surface-dwelling or domesticated animals, with limited studies examining disease dynamics in fossorial species like mole-rats. Current insights show that African mole-rats can harbour a number of zoonotic pathogens at alarmingly high levels. Mole-rats may therefore serve as reservoirs for zoonotic pathogens that could spread to other wildlife, domestic animals, or even humans, especially under changing climate conditions. Given their subterranean lifestyle and adaptive physiology, mole-rats provide an understudied yet potentially crucial model for understanding how climate and habitat variation influence zoonotic disease risk.
Objectives:
1. Assess Disease Prevalence: Conduct disease and parasite screenings across multiple mole-rat populations, capturing data on viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens and endo- and ectoparasites.
2. Analyze Environmental and Physiological Links: Study how variations in temperature, humidity, and habitat conditions impact mole-rat metabolism and disease load, through both field measurements and controlled lab studies.
3. Model Climate Change Impacts on Disease Dynamics: Develop predictive models to assess how climate change might influence disease transmission within mole-rat populations and affect the potential spillover risks to other animals and humans.
4. Identify Biosecurity Measures: Use findings to propose practical, evidence-based biosecurity measures that can help mitigate zoonotic transmission risks at the wildlife-agriculture-human interface.
Student Experience:
The student will engage in an integrative and hands-on research experience, developing a diverse skillset that spans fieldwork, lab work, and data analysis. They will begin with field assessments, where they will learn to handle and sample mole-rats for disease screening across various habitats in southern Africa. This fieldwork will expose them to diverse ecological conditions, allowing them to observe how environmental variations impact disease prevalence in real-world settings. In the laboratory, they will examine how disease affects metabolism, gaining insights into how physiological parameters relate to disease susceptibility and reservoir potential. The student will also learn advanced analytical techniques, including statistical modelling and GIS-based spatial analysis to interpret field data. With the guidance of a multidisciplinary supervisory team, they will model climate change scenarios to understand future disease risks in mole-rat populations and translate this knowledge into actionable biosecurity recommendations. This project not only provides comprehensive training in epidemiology, parasitology, and ecological physiology but also prepares the student to contribute meaningfully to public health and conservation policy. Ultimately, the student will complete this project with a holistic understanding of the complex interactions between climate, animal physiology, and zoonotic disease risks, equipped to address real-world challenges at the nexus of wildlife health, ecosystem sustainability, and human wellbeing.
Biological Sciences Building (100%)
Full clean driving license, analytical (statistical) experience, laboratory experience desirable (e.g. molecular and diagnostic techniques), willingness to learn bioinformatics
OneZoo DTP
NERC BBSRC MRC
3.5 years
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