Zuzanna Szczutkowska

I am an MSc by Research student of Biological Sciences interested in evolution and ecology of health and disease and host-pathogen/parasite interactions. My MSc investigates variation at immune genes associated with autoimmune diabetes & host-parasite relationships including immunomodulation by helminths in natural bank vole populations. I am supervised by Dr Barbara Tschirren.

I have experience as a Research Technician with Dr Barbara Tschirren and alongside Dr Karolina Przesmycka working with bank voles in the field and lab over two 3-month fieldwork posts in Sweden. I also worked with Dr Meaghan Castledine as a Research Assistant, investigating host-parasite dynamics of bacteria and phage in the presence of macrophages: (doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wrag116). 

During my BSc I completed a Placement Year as a Microbiology Intern with Prof. Stineke van Houte microbiology lab group, and was awarded funding from the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine to complete a Lister Summer Studentship with the group. This research contributed to my BSc dissertation, in which I characterised a panel of bacteriophages and investigated the evolution of phage-resistance and cross-resistance in a highly multidrug-resistant clonal group of Escherichia coli.