Initially engineer in animal biology, I joined ISEM as an assistant engineer working on how interactions between parasites, competition and facilitation, influence the evolution of parasite life cycles, including traits such as virulence and transmission. I am conducting breeding experiments with different species of mites (Tetranychus spp.) and tomato plant viruses to see how these traits vary when these organisms evolve or co-evolve with another parasite species. I also use inbred lines of mites to study genetic relationships between parasite traits (virulence and transmission).