The Jiggins Lab Webpage

Chuan Cao

Research Interests

The presence of evolutionary effects that pathogens and hosts have on one another provides an excellent model to study co-evolution. Among the limited knowledge we have now, virus-Drosophila interaction makes a relatively simple and very interesting model to study with. My current research interest is to experimentally identify the genes involved in the resistance process to Sigma virus and DCV in Drosophila melanogaster. By generating transgenic flies and carrying out RNAi experiments, I hope to identify the important genes involved in viral resistance and also find the specific polymorphisms causing different viral resistance in flies.

Education and Employment

Autumn 2010-present Graduate student, Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge

2006-summer 2008, Spring 2009-2010 BSc, Sichuan University, China

Autumn 2008-spring 2009 Exchange student and research assistant, Department of Biology, University of Washington, USA

Publications

Magwire, MM, Bayer, F, Webster, CL, Cao, C and Jiggins, FM 2011 Successive Increases in the Resistance of Drosophila to Viral Infection through a Transposon Insertion Followed by a Duplication. PLoS Genetics. 7: e1002337. [PDF]