I have always been fascinated by behavior, both of humans and animals. After reading Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and Richard Dawkins’s The Ancestor’s Tale, I was surprised to find that both authors seemed to view the world the same way that I do. I have always tried to explain behavior in terms of how similar behaviors could have a fitness advantage in the past. After those books made me aware of my own thought patterns, I decided to study biology. I am especially interested in the evolution of behavior, parasitism (especially how parasites affect their hosts’ behavior), and epidemiology.

One disease I am particularly interested in is toxoplasmosis. I know that infected mice or rats will seek out cats in order to get eaten, which allows the disease lifecycle to move on to the next stage. I also know that humans can be (and frequently are) infected with toxoplasmosis, but that it isn’t considered problematic except in immunocompromised persons or pregnant women. I am curious if there is any evidence of behavioral affects in infected humans. I am curious about this both because I am generally curious about organisms that affect the behavior of other organisms, and also because I love cats.

My goal in this research is to learn about what happens at a cellular level in each stage of a toxoplasma gondii infection, and if there are differences in different hosts. I want to follow up on this because I usually view things from the big picture perspective, and it will be enlightening for me to try to understand what is happening at a molecular level. I will try to relate this to the second learning objective for this course by examining how and why the cells of parasite and host respond to each other.