Tom Hill, Ph.D.

Hometown:  Oxford, England

Education

Ph.D., Evolutionary Biology and Population Genetics - Vetmeduni Vienna, Austria (2016)

Current Research: Since Drosophila's establishment as a biomedical model in the 1950s, natural pathogens have surfaced as effective models of bacterial, fungal and RNA viral infections. However, there is no natural model for DNA viruses in Drosophila. I am working to establish the recently discovered Drosophila innubila nudivirus (DiNV) as the DNA virus model for Drosophila. Specifically, we are interested in identifying how the virus interacts with Drosophila to establish an infection and the host immune response. We are also interested in natural variation in immune response to infection by a DNA virus and will examine this by mapping variation in resistance to infection in infected Drosophila. This work will help us better understand the immune response to infection by DNA viruses, including in humans.