Keele Represented at Thai Workshop on Infectious Diseases
Dr Catherine Merrick (senior lecturer in biology) travelled to Thailand this week as the invited representative of Keele's Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology (CAEP) at a collaborative workshop organised by the UK Medical Research Council and Thai research agencies TRF and NSTDA.
The workshop brought together 17 faculty members from various UK universities with Thai researchers from universities within and beyond Bangkok. Both sides presented their research interests with the aim of developing new collaborative projects in the two areas of infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. These will then be invited to apply to a special call for Newton Fund grant applications in the target research areas.
Dr Merrick presented CAEP's interests in vector-borne, parasitic and viral infectious diseases, making contact with Thai researchers in several of these areas. The delegation also toured the nearly Chulalungkorn University and heard about recent research successes, including programmes to identify new viruses in bats, to control rabies, and to identify the emergence of Leishmania parasites in Thailand.
Photo shows UK researchers with the Thai Infectious Diseases department at Chulalungkorn University.