Mark Siddall
My blogs
| Industry | Museums or Libraries |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Curator |
| Location | New York, NY, United States |
| Introduction | My research focuses on the evolution of leeches and their blood-feeding behavior, as well as on protozoan parasitology in general. I analyze the evolutionary patterns of both blood-feeding and non-blood-feeding leeches to determine how they have managed to circumvent the blood-clotting mechanisms of their hosts. Knowledge gained from this research may be used one day to develop anti-coagulants and tumor inhibitors in humans. Another aspect of his work assesses the genetic diversity of leeches in wild populations decimated by centuries of over-exploitation, to determine their species' level of endangerment. |