Rachel Byrne

Research Interests

I have long been fascinated with parasites. Whilst sitting my undergraduate degree, Tropical Disease Biology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, I was able to delve deeper into parasites’ microscopic world and learn more about the mechanisms they use to survive and thrive. In an always changing world, parasites are forever.

I was inspired to a life in academia through my final year project where I evaluated molecular diagnostics for malaria in a UK setting. This highlighted the vast research deficits we currently have for many diseases and the parasites that cause them. 

Research project

Funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
There are no published studies exploring the extent of the helminth parasite community in Irish badgers. My research will aim to change that. This will focus on finding helminth parasites, recorded and identifying them. The badgers will be sampled across many counties from the West and the East and key host factors such as age, sex and weight will be compared to identify any trends.