Dr Sara Gandy

Research Associate

University of Glasgow

Biography

My research primarily focuses on understanding the ecological drivers of tick-borne diseases to provide insights on the mechanisms involved in transmission cycles, especially on the interactions between ticks, hosts and pathogens. My research includes investigating the impacts of environmental changes (woodland restoration, rewilding) and host community composition (deer, rodent and birds) on tick-borne diseases risks in the UK.

Interests

Disease Ecology
Vector-host-pathogen interactions
Statistical modeling

Education

PhD in Lyme disease ecology, 2020
University of Glasgow
MSc in Environmental & Wildlife Conservation, 1st Class, 2015
University of Reims
BSc in Applied Bioscience and Zoology, 2012
University of the West of Scotland

Skills

R & Statistics

Statistical modelling (GLMs, GLMMs, GAMs, SEMs) in R, qGIS (spatial analyses), DNAstar for bioinformatics

Field work

Live capture of ungulate & rodents, trdio-telemetry, camera trapping, distance sampling, blood/skin biopsy sampling, collection of ticks/mosquitoes

Laboratory

Tick/mosquito morphological ID, DNA extraction, PCR (real time & nested), Sanger sequencing

Experience

Research Associate

University of Glasgow

March 2024 – Present Glasgow, UK

I am currently a research associate at the University of Glasgow, working on the MEaSURE project, an interdisciplinary project in collaboration with the University of Manchester and the University of Salford. The project aims to explore the ecological services and disservices associated with urban green spaces. My research specifically focuses on assessing the risk of tick-borne diseases in urban green spaces by understanding how disease risk varies with landscape connectivity, land cover and host presence. Additionally, I will create exposure risk maps using mobility data to track park usage patterns.

Senior Medical Entomologist

UK Health Security Agency

March 2023 – February 2024 Porton Down, UK

As a Senior Medical Entomologist, I am leading a range of ecological research projects, including the National Tick Survey as well as various field base ecological project investigating the impacts of land management and host presence on tick-borne disease hazard. I also analyse large government dataset to, for instance, understand spatiotemporal changes in tick distribution. Some of my responsibilities include:

Managing field base ecological research projects
Coordinating with stakeholders and project partners
Management of data entry
Data analysis (data visualisation, statistical modelling, spatial modelling)
Writing peer-reviewed articles
Training vector control officers overseas (UKOTS)

Medical Entomologist

UK Health Security Agency

March 2020 – March 2023 Porton Down, UK

As a Medical Entomologist, I am involved in a range of ecological research projects focusing on better understanding tick-borne disease risk in the UK. Some of my responsibilities include:

Coordinating field work logistics, leading a team of 5 people
Coordinating with stakeholders and project partners
Data entry
Data analysis (data visualisation, statistical modeling, spatial modelling)
Writing peer-reviewed articles

Graduate teaching assistant

University of Glasgow

November 2016 – May 2020 Glasgow, UK

As a graduate teaching assistant, I am teaching undergraduate and MSc students during practicals and tutorial sessions on general biology (labs & marking), introduction to GIS, statistics (GLMs, GLMMs, dplyr & ggplot2 in R), marine biologgy (field course) and molecular biology (labs).

PhD Candidate

University of Glasgow

October 2016 – September 2020 Glasgow, UK

My PhD focuses on the impacts of host community composition on Lyme disease hazard in Scottish woodlands.

Field technician

Grimsö research station

May 2016 – July 2016 Grimsö, Sweden

As a field technician, my duties include mammal capture (roe deer, rodents), blood sampling, radio-telemetry, animal survey, tick collection, tick identification and distance sampling.

MSc research project

Grimsö research station

January 2015 – August 2015 Grimsö, Sweden

My research project focuses on understanding the influence of time, temperature and humidity on Ixodes ricinus density in Sweden using a long term dataset.

Scolarships & awards

Training award

University of Glasgow

September 2019 – September 2019 Glasgow, UK

I received a sclolarship of £540 granted by the University of Glasgow to attend a workshop on Bayesian Statistics

Travel grant

VectorBite

June 2019 – June 2019

Travel grant of £200 granted by VectorBite to attend a meeting/workshop in Trento, Italy

Travel grant

VectorBite

June 2018 – June 2018

Travel grant of 1200USD granted by VectorBite to attend a meeting/workshop in Pacific Grove, US

PhD funding

University of Glasgow/Macaulay fund

October 2016 – October 2016

Competitive PhD studenship of ~£90,000 obtained

Featured Publications

Dr Sara Gandy, Elizabeth Kilbride, Roman Biek, Caroline Millins, Lucy Gilbert

June, 2022 In Ecology and Evolution

No net effect of host density on tick-borne disease hazard due to opposing roles of vector amplification and pathogen dilution

Publications

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Dr Sara Gandy, Jolyon Medlock, Mia White, Robert Kohl, Hein Sprong, Kayleigh Hansford (2024). Ixodes ricinus (Acari, Ixodidae) ticks and tick-borne pathogen prevalence on the Isle of Wight – an island perspective in southern England. In Journal of the European Mosquito Control Association.

PDF DOI

Jolyon Medlock, Frances Hawkes, Robert Cheke, G Gibson, Anthony Abbott, Benjamin Cull, Dr Sara Gandy, Harrison Hardy, T Acott, Alexander Vaux (2024). Mosquito diversity and abundance in English wetlands – empirical evidence to guide predictions for wetland suitability for mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). In Journal of the European Mosquito Control Association.

PDF DOI

Mirjam Schilling, Megan Golding, Ben Jones, Karen Mansfield, Dr Sara Gandy, Jolyon Medlock, Nicholas Johnson (2024). Sequences Related to Chimay Rhabdovirus Are Widely Distributed in Ixodes ricinus Ticks across England and Wales. In Viruses.

PDF DOI

Dr Sara Gandy, Jolyon Medlock, Ben Cull, Rob Smith, Zoe Gibney, Sanam Sewgobind, Insiyah Parekh, Sophie Harding, Nicholas Johnson, Kayleigh Hansford (2023). Detection of Babesia species in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks in England and Wales. In Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases.

PDF DOI

Ternenge Apaa, Harriet McFadzean, Dr Sara Gandy, Kayleigh Hansford, Jolyon Medlock, Nicholas Johnson (2023). Anaplasma phagocytophilum Ecotype Analysis in Cattle from Great Britain. In Pathogens.

PDF DOI

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