Prof Sue Welburn

Professor Welburn's research has focused on the interactions between parasites and their vectors and hosts that lead to transmission of human sleeping sickness. This has involved a dissection of the mechanisms of innate resistance of vectors to parasite infections and the complex interactions between host, vector and parasite that result in parasite differentiation, disease transmission and epidemiology and control.

Recent research has concentrated on the design and use of molecular diagnostic tools for the study and management of sleeping sickness and animal trypanosomiasis, and integrated control methodologies for control of the Neglected Zoonoses. This has encompassed research ranging from ‘grass-roots’ fieldwork in Africa to laboratory-based dissection of the problems at the gene level.

Professor Welburn graduated with a BSc from the University of the West of England in 1984, and gained a PhD at University of Bristol in 1991. She started her academic career at the Tsetse Research Laboratories in Bristol, and worked for several years at the University of Glasgow, before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2000. She currently has projects in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania, focussing on interventions for disease control.