The way symbiotic interactions shape the evolution of hosts and symbionts is my main subject of fascination. In particular, I am interested in coevolutionary processes in parasitic relationships and how these relationships intervene in different aspects of each actor’s ecology and behavior. I work with a wild population of great tits (Parus major), their avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium sp., Haemoproteus sp. and Leucocytozoon sp.) and their vector, the mosquito Culex pipiens. My research involves lab experiments (metabolic measurements, host-choice experiments, study of coinfection dynamics) and field studies, in the context of a long-term epidemiological monitoring of avian malaria in three wild populations of great tits, which allows us to conduct experiments in the wild as well as collecting different samples and data.
2016-
PhD in the Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne (Switzerland), supervised by Prof. Philippe Christe
2014-2016
MSc in Behavior, Evolution and Conservation, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
Master thesis: Testing for a role of avian malaria parasites on speciation in yellow-rumped warblers; supervised by Dr Tania Jenkins and Prof. Philippe Christe
First-step project: Molecular diversity of a species-rich clade across the Wallace line (Ephemeroptera, Leptophlebiidae); supervised by Prof. Nadir Alvarez and Dr Michel Sartori
2015
Research assistant, Museum of Zoology, Lausanne (Switzerland)
2011-2014
BSc in Biology (minor in Geography), University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
Bachelor thesis: The role of PhVAPYRIN in Arbuscular Mycorrhiza; supervised by Laure Bapaume and Dr Didier Reinhardt
