I am interested in maternal effects and more particularly on maternally transferred passive immunity. It has been shown that the transfer of antibodies from mother to offspring can confer protection from a range of micro and macroparasites, and is so efficient that vaccination of mothers is used to protect newborns from certain diseases. However, despite the partial protection against malaria observed for young infants, the role of maternally transferred protection against malaria parasites is controversial and poorly understood. Using experimental infection of mice and their pups I will address some questions related to the influence of maternal protection on the course of malarial infection in pups.

My two year fellowship is funded by the Wellcome Trust and is a collaboration with Sarah Reece