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Research Fellows Directory

Zamin Iqbal

Dr Zamin Iqbal

Research Fellow


University of Oxford

Research summary

My research focuses on pathogens - organisms that live in or on humans and in some way harm them. Pathogens evolve rapidly, in three ways: 1. Normal inheritance: A parasite inherits its DNA from its parents, and sometimes also gets some mutations to its DNA. 2. Horizontal transfer of genes: Bacteria can have extensive optional-extra sections of their DNA, which can give them extra powers (e.g. resistance to antibiotics), and they swap these back and forth between individuals. 3. Hyper-evo lving genes: The human immune system indirectly recognizes some parasite genes. To avoid being killed, the parasite needs a way of accelerating the evolution of these genes. Some do this by having many slightly different copies of these genes, and cut-and-pasting DNA between them. They also switch rapidly between which copy is turned on, to confuse the immune-system further. This mechanism is of critical importance for malaria. Standard approaches to studying pathogen DNA are very good at han dling normal inheritance, rathe

Interests and expertise (Subject groups)

Grants awarded

Statistical methods for analyzing complex genomic variation in human pathogens.

Scheme: Sir Henry Dale Fellowship

Dates: Jan 2014 - Jan 2019

Value: £769,446