Infectious Diseases

Mike is Associate Dean for Research Strategy at the University Of Dundee College Of Life Sciences following 7 years as Dean of Research. His continued support for the DDU during this time has allowed the unit to double in size over the last 3 years including the provision of new lab space and state of the art equipment in the Centre for Interdisciplinary and Translational Research.Insect-transmitted protozoan parasites cause widespread and debilitating diseases in man and domestic livestock throughout the tropics. Examples of diseases caused by trypanosomatid parasites include African sleeping sickness (caused by Trypanosoma brucei and transmitted by tsetse flies), Chagas disease (caused by Trypanosoma cruzi) and kala-azar, espundia and oriental sore (caused by the Leishmania). There are no vaccines against these diseases and most of the available drug treatments are toxic and/or ineffective