Kayla C. King is Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at University of Oxford, specialising in how interactions between hosts and

parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

show evolutionary change.

Career

Kayla Christina King studied B. Sc. Zoology at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

, Canada from 2000 to 2004 followed by a master's degree in Biology at Concordia University, graduating in 2006. She then commenced study for her doctorate at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...

, USA that was awarded in 2011. She then moved to

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, UK, for 2 years, partly financed through a Royal Society Newton Fellowship, followed by moving in 2013 to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 2019 she was appointed professor of evolutionary ecology at University of Oxford, UK. She is also a tutorial fellow at Christ Church college. Her research into evolutionary biology makes use of host-parasite interactions between a wide range of microbial and eukaryotic parasites in both natural and laboratory situations. These have included systems that are relevant to diseases of humans such as

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...

and may assist in their biological control. However, she has also worked with non-pathogenic systems such as the normal microbiome of snails. Her research applies theoretical models as well as laboratory methods including genomics to study the interactions.

Publications

King is the author or co-author of over 40 scientific publications. These include: *King, Kayla C; Hurst, Gregory DD; Lewis, Zen (2020) Let's emerge from the pandemic lockdown into a fairer academic world. ''Current Biology'' 30 R799 *King, Kayla C.; Brockhurst, Michael A.; Vasieva, Olga; Paterson, Steve; Betts, Alex; Ford, Suzanne A.; Frost, Crystal L.; Horsburgh, Malcolm J.; Haldenby, Sam; Hurst, Gregory D. D.(2016) Rapid evolution of microbe-mediated protection against pathogens in a worm host. ''ISME Journal'' 10 1915-1924 *Brockhurst, Michael A.; Chapman, Tracey; King Kayla C.; Mank, Judith E.; Paterson, Steve; Hurst, Gregory D. D. (2014) Running with the Red Queen: the role of biotic conflicts in evolution. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences'' 281 Article Number: 20141382 *Wolinska, Justyna; King, Kayla C. (2009) Environment can alter selection in host-parasite interactions. ''Trends in Parasitology'' 25 236-244

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Kayla C. Living people 21st-century Canadian women scientists Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Evolutionary biologists Canadian parasitologists Indiana University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)