Affiliation: University of Minnesota, Department of Entomology

Dr Benjamin Cull is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Entomology at the University of Minnesota, USA. His current research focuses on the interactions between tick-borne intracellular bacteria (Rickettsia spp. and Anaplasma phagocytophilum), their hosts, and their tick vectors. His PhD was completed at the University of Glasgow, UK, wherein he examined the role of the autophagy pathway in adapting the protozoan parasite Leishmania major to the different environments encountered in its sand fly vector and the mammalian host. Subsequently, he spent six years as an emerging infections scientist at Public Health England, UK, carrying out surveillance, ecological research, and risk assessment for vectors and their associated pathogens across the UK and Europe. His research interests include vector biology, vector ecology, vector surveillance, enzootic cycles of vector-borne disease, and host-pathogen-vector interactions, with a focus on ticks and tick-borne diseases.