Evolutionary Parasitology
During the course of my first undergraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh I have been interested (together with Jaap de Roode and Andrew Read) in the competition effect occurring in a particular closed system. This model-system was provided by host organisms forced to provide nourishment to different classes of parasite clones (Plasmodium), common scenario of the malaria disease.
In repeated experiments with different classes of parasite invading the hosts, it was possible to show that stronger classes of parasite clones outcompete less virulent ones causing higher food resource exploitation (blood anaemia and risk of death for the host).
This finding was published in PNAS (de Roode, Pansini et al., 2005).