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Pedro Vale

@pfvale.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.3K following 176 posts

Ecology & Evolution of Infection Dynamics lab, Edinburgh, UK pedrovale.bio.ed.ac.uk

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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Evidence for balancing selection on loci associated with host use in the genome of a generalist plant parasite academic.oup.com/evlett/artic...
academic.oup.com
Evidence for balancing selection on loci associated with host use in the genome of a generalist plant parasite
Abstract. Most research on host–parasite interactions has focused on tightly coevolved species pairs, yet many parasites are generalists that infect a wide
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Forcing flies to be more active somehow would help in establishing causality, you're right. Tricky to do. There is some work showing the benefits of anorexia during infection disappear if mice are force-fed. But if I was force fed I might not react well, regardless of infection!
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Reduced social interaction is another predicted response to infection, and we sort of see this in viral infection royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article... but bacterial infection results in closer group structure.
royalsocietypublishing.org
Viral infection causes sex-specific changes in fruit fly social aggregation behaviour
Abstract. Host behavioural changes following infection are common and could be important determinants of host behavioural competence to transmit pathogens.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
However, anorexia is also a common sickness behaviour in many animals, but we haven't found much evidence of reduced eating during infection in flies (if anything we find the opposite) share.google/1lK9LH9ewKZF...
share.google
Acute bacterial challenge in Drosophila reveals age and sex dependent feeding and macronutrient choice without generalised anorexia
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Thanks! Hard to know about other behaviours. We looked at activity because lethargy is a common sickness behaviour, and we know sick flies move differently.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Behavioural microstructure therefore gives early, quantitative signatures that help separate adaptive sickness behaviour from pathology.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
These differences were already apparent quite early in the infection (under 24h) and early suppression of activity was associated with longer survival time (in males especially) suggesting adaptive restraint ("sickness behaviour") in addition to infection pathology.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
This state-transition revealed two distinct behavioural patterns within infected flies: early‑dying flies failed to start moving, and also failed to keep going once active, indicative of severe pathology. Longer lived flies were only less likely to initiate movement, suggesting restraint/rest.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
To separate these mechanisms we estimated flies' minute-to-minute probability of active/inactive transitions. This separates changes in starting movement from changes in sustaining movement, revealing whether reduced activity reflects ‘resting’ or pathological failure to maintain locomotion.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
In flies infected with live bacteria, those that die early show a behavioural “crash”: very long inactivity punctuated by occasional brief, intense movement. Longer-lived infected flies keep a much more “normal” activity architecture.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
At the coarse scale, all challenged flies showed reduced activity, which isn't surprising. What's interesting is what happens at the fine scale. We found that immune challenge mostly shortens the length of active periods and slightly lengthens inactive bouts (often stronger in females).
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Using #Drosophila, we experimentally separated these causes by comparing injury, #immune stimulation, and live bacterial infection while tracking individual locomotion at 1‑minute resolution for 16 days.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Animals often move less when infected, but it's difficult to know whether reduced activity reflects an adaptive, host-controlled “sickness behaviour,” a non-specific injury response, or debilitating pathogen damage. We wanted to see if we could disentangle these effects.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
We have some exciting new work pre-printed this week. Read on if you're interested in #behavioural responses to infection and some cool analysis of high-resolution behavioural time-series data in #Drosophila. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Experimental setup and locomotor activity across immune challenge treatments.
(A) Schematic representation of experimental setup. (B) Individual fly activity timeseries (faded
lines) and treatment mean (bold line) plotted as mean activity (number of beam breaks per
minute) over 400 hours post-infection for each treatment group (naive, injured, immune stimulated,
injured). Sample sizes per sex are annotated in each panel (F = females, M= males).
Treatment: naive (blue), injured (orange), immune stimulated (heat-killed Pe - green), infected
(live Pe – pink).
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bioRxiv Animal Behavior and Cognition @biorxiv-behav.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Fine-scale behavioural dynamics separates adaptive sickness behaviour from injury and infection pathology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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bioRxiv Ecology @biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Differing effects of parasite-parasite interaction types on the spatial epidemiology of co-circulating parasites www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 30/03/2026
New research from #BiologyLetters: How do infections impact social relationships? royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article... | #Behaviour #Ecology #Evolution #Epidemiology
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Genetic variance and phenotypic selection on pathogen-linked oviposition choice in Drosophila doi.org/10.32942/X20...
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
I believe the meeting has been / will soon be cancelled.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
This pre-printed article discusses insect oviposition as a tractable, mechanistically grounded model for behavioural immunity, linking individual egg-laying decisions to population level disease dynamics. 🪰🦠 doi.org/10.32942/X2W...
A drawing of fruit flies eating and laying eggs in a mix of clean and pathogen-contaminated substrates.
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EcoEvoRxiv @ecoevorxiv.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Insect oviposition site selection as a simple system to investigate the ecology and evolution of pathogen avoidance behaviour. doi.org/10.32942/X2W962
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Ben Longdon @blongdon.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in @uniexecec.bsky.social - Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... - RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... Pls share!
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
*Congratulations* to former Darwin Trust-funded PhD student Arun Prakash for being awarded the Alfred Russel Wallace award from @royentsoc.bsky.social for his PhD on #immune regulation of disease #tolerance and immune #priming in #Drosophila! @edinburghbiology.bsky.social @uoe-eid.bsky.social
edinburgh-infectious-diseases.ed.ac.uk
Former PhD student wins the Alfred Wallace Award for significant contribution to the science of entomology | Edinburgh Infectious Diseases | Edinburgh Infectious Diseases
September 2025: Dr Arun Prakash, a Darwin Trust PhD student, has been retrospectively awarded the prestigious award from the Royal Entomological Society for his 2021 thesis ''Immune Regulation Of Dise...
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PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 12/08/2025
Forecasting the effects of #epidemics is complicated by a population’s pathogen exposure history. @pfvale.bsky.social @chadisaadroy.bsky.social & Mike Boots argue for the use of experimental #DiseaseEcology to better understand the consequences of variations in #infection history 🧪 plos.io/4mdDVvW
plos.io
The ghost of infections past: Accounting for heterogeneity in individual infection history improves accuracy in epidemic forecasting
Variable pathogen exposure history contributes to individual immune differences, complicating epidemic forecasting. This Essay argues that experimental disease ecology can offer powerful tools and app...
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Tagging @uoe-eid.bsky.social @edinburghbiology.bsky.social
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
This piece on infection history as a driver of individual heterogeneity in infection outcomes was fun to think about and to write with @chadisaadroy.bsky.social and Mike Boots. Also suggest that systems like #Drosophila can offer useful tools to tackle the epidemiological consequences.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
"The myth of meritocracy in science collapses under the financial sacrifices expected at every career stage. From unpaid internships and self-funded conferences to underpaid positions, these hidden costs disproportionately exclude those without generational wealth, compounded by race and gender."
dx.plos.org
Too poor to science: How wealth determines who succeeds in STEM
From student to researcher, a career in science can come with a high price tag. This Perspective explores how persistent financial barriers limit who can succeed in science, revealing how wealth shape...
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Trends in Microbiology @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Providencia rettgeri
dlvr.it
Providencia rettgeri
Providencia rettgeri is a rod-shaped, urease-producing, Gram-negative bacterium. It is motile, owing to the presence of flagella, which aid in its movement and colonisation of a wide range of environments. It is prevalent in hospitals and other healthcare settings, particularly on medical equipment, and therefore plays an increasingly important role in nosocomial infections. P. rettgeri produces mannose-resistant Proteus-like (MR/P) fimbriae, which allow adhesion to uroepithelial mucosal cells and to exfoliated urinary cells, contributing to its role in urinary-tract infections.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
#DiseaseEcology #AnimalBehavior #Evolution
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Caroline Amoroso @cr-amo.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Hope this primer proves helpful to anybody interested in infection avoidance. It was certainly a pleasure to write with @akgibson.bsky.social and @pfvale.bsky.social l!
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
This primer on infection avoidance was incredibly fun to write with @cr-amo.bsky.social and Mandy Gibson. We cover its taxonomic breadth, mechanisms and evolution, and its importance across fields as diverse as public health, conservation, and agriculture. 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol... #SymbioSky
This figure highlights the diversity of avoidance across different species in response to pathogens and parasites. (A) Rainbow trout avoid waters with high concentrations of trematode cercariae, reducing exposure to these parasites. (B) Healthy Caribbean spiny lobsters avoid sharing dens with those infected by viruses, preventing the spread of infection within their communities. (C,D) Avoidance underlies many human public health measures such as social distancing, to minimize the risk of infectious disease contagion. (E) Oystercatchers avoid eating the largest cockles, which are likely to be infested with parasitic helminths. (F,G) Bees and ants (eusocial insects) exhibit complex social behaviours to minimize infection risks. Bees isolate or remove infected individuals from the colony, while ants restructure their social networks to reduce contact with fungal-infected foragers. (H) Sheep avoid food and water sources contaminated with feces, reducing the risk of ingesting parasites that may be present in such environments. (I,J) Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. These model organisms illustrate how detected pathogenic cues can modify behaviour and provide insights into the neurological integration of sensory perception and behavioural response to pathogens. Plants, like Saline latifolia (K), can avoid infection too, for example by flowering for shorter periods to reduce contact with fungal spores transmitted by pollinators. Root compounds of some sorghum (L) lines are associated with reduced germination of parasitic Striga seeds, demonstrating chemical avoidance strategies. (M) Crickets avoid detection by parasitic flies through the selection of variants that cannot sing, disrupting the ability of parasites to locate hosts acoustically. (N) Spongy moths show variability in larval behaviour to avoid virus-contaminated foliage. (O) Lemurs avoid water sources that have an elevated risk of fecal contamination.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Providencia rettgeri is a commonly employed #Drosophila pathogen. It also has an extensive AMR profile causing opportunistic infections in hospital settings. I recently realised I know less about it than I should, so here is my homework. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #Microsky #MEvosky
sciencedirect.com
Providencia rettgeri
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
hollyyfc.github.io/lme4u/
hollyyfc.github.io
Interpretation and Diagnostics for lme4 Hierarchical Models
Interpret and diagnose linear mixed-effects models fitted with lme4. Provides tools for summarizing model output, visualizing assumptions checks, and performing hypothesis tests.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Hi Michelle. I've just added you.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
A new preprint from the lab, where we apply complex systems and machine learning approaches to identify transitions between life and infection-induced death in #Drosophila. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Detecting infection-related mortality using dynamical statistical indicators of high-resolution activity time series
Predicting transitions between health, disease, and death across biological systems remains an important challenge with significant implications for both ecological management and medical intervention...
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Any hybrid model journal, because the subscription (free to publish) model is available, and depositing the accepted article file on PURE will satisfy funder requirements.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Really excited to finally start this project with @andreadwilson.bsky.social, using #Drosophila as a model for experimental epidemiology and evolution to explore the genetic determinants and evolutionary constraints on extreme pathogen transmission phenotypes.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Hi #Drosophila folk: I'm advertising a 2-year #Postdoc, funded by a BBSRC grant on the genetic and immune determinants and evolutionary constraints underlying extreme pathogen transmission phenotypes. Deadline 29 April, details in the link below, or feel free to email: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMQ231/p...
jobs.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Edinburgh
Apply now for the Postdoctoral Research Associate role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Tagging #symbiosky
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
An interesting, tenured, Principal Researcher position at CIBIO in Northern Portugal, focused on the study of virus-host #co-evolution, with emphasis on the #evolution of #immune system genes and the impact of emerging diseases on wildlife. www.cibio.up.pt/en/jobs/tenu...
cibio.up.pt
TENURE, 1st Edition: 2 positions- BIOPOLIS2025-15 - Job Opportunities - Cibio
The mission of the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources is to develop world-class research in the areas of biodiversity and evolutionary bi
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Tobias Engl @tcsengl.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
A long, long time ago, we started this review project during the first Coron lockdown, but if finally made it out into the world - Origin and function of beneficial bacterial symbioses in insects! @naturerevmicro.bsky.social
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Katerina Guschanski @kguschan.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Dental calculus, the preserved oral microbiome, is an absolute treasure trove of information that can be interrogated across thousands of years. But how to make it work? In a new preprint, @markella-morait.bsky.social asks this questions using >30 mammalian species:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Tagging #symbiosky #drosophila #entomology
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Hi Jacek. That's you added now.
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Tagging 🧪 #EcoECRcareer #ecosky #mevosky #symbiosky
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Tagging 🧪, #mevosky, and #evolution
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Priscilla Akyaw @abenaakyaw.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Time to give an update on the fantastic work by @taniafpaulo.bsky.social during her PhD, now published in @royalsocietypublishing.org on the evolution of resistance and disease tolerance mechanisms to oral infection in #Drosophila royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #infection #immunity 🤓🎊
royalsocietypublishing.org
Evolution of resistance and disease tolerance mechanisms to oral bacterial infection in Drosophila melanogaster | Open Biology
Pathogens exert strong selection on hosts that evolve and deploy different defensive strategies, namely minimizing pathogen exposure (avoidance), directly promoting pathogen elimination (resistance) a...
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Tagging #symbiosky 🧪🦠🪰
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SalehLab @salehlabparis.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Here we go again!!! Thanks to @rubengonzalez.bsky.social a brilliant postdoc in the lab, I made my first baby steps into the aging field... Be kind and supportive 😀 I find the results totally exciting! and so much to do now! #ProudPI #LoveVirology
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Prof. Ruth Ley FRS @microbiome.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
So excited to share this latest work by @kelseyhuus.bsky.social !!! She shows that flagellin in the human gut affects whether or not people develop fever in response to vaccine, and the amount of flagellin reflects diet
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