Christopher Wade (researcher)

Christopher M. Wade FLS is an evolutionary biologist and parasitologist at the University of Nottingham.[1] Wade is an elected Fellow of the Linnean Society and is currently a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn University (2010–Present).[2]

Christopher M. Wade
Wade prior to North Atlantic research cruise of the RRS Charles Darwin in Fairlie, Scotland.
Alma materUniversity of Wales (BSc) University of Edinburgh (PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Nottingham

Natural History Museum

University of Edinburgh

University of Wales
Websitewww.nottingham.ac.uk/life-sciences/people/chris.wade

Education

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Wade undertook his undergraduate studies at the University of Wales and joined the University of Edinburgh for his graduate studies, earning his PhD in 1997 for his research on the evolution of HIV.[3]

Career and research

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Wade began his career as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Nottingham in 1996, and subsequently was a research fellow at The Natural History Museum, London in 1999. In 2001, Wade joined the University of Nottingham as a lecturer in Genetics. As of 2024, Wade is a lecturer in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham, where he lectures and researches molecular phylogenetics and evolution and parasitology.[2]

Wade studies the evolution, population genetics and taxonomy of aquatic and terrestrial snails and slugs and investigates snail-borne parasitic diseases of medical and veterinary importance (including Schistosomiasis, Angiostrongyliasis and Fascioliasis). Wade also researches the evolution and biogeography of marine taxa focusing on Foraminifera and fish. As of 2024, Wade has over 100 scientific publications (including articles published in Nature and Science),[4] with an average of 50 citations per publication (>4700 citations; h-index: 35; i-10 index = 60).[5] Wade has published research articles on several different topics such as determining the evolutionary relationships and taxonomy in terrestrial and aquatic snails and slugs; studying the intermediate gastropod hosts capable of transmitting gastropod-borne helminthic diseases to humans and animals; examining the evolution and biogeography of planktic and benthic foraminifera and seasonal variations in coastal populations; and the molecular phylogeography of fish populations.[6]

Together with colleague Kate Darling, Wade demonstrated that foraminifera exchange genes globally, with gene flow between the Arctic and Antarctic[7] and the Pacific and Atlantic,[8] yet individual species are highly diverse and composed of multiple 'cryptic' species groups.[9][10] They demonstrated that shell coiling is a genetic trait, not the result of ecophenotypic variation,[11] and that foraminifera survive mass extinction events by bridging the benthic-planktic divide.[12]

Wade's research on snail evolution produced the seminal molecular phylogenies for the terrestrial and aquatic snails and slugs,[13][14][15] used in establishing a new taxonomy of the Gastropoda, and his work on schistosomiasis in aquatic snails has mapped the prevalence of disease along the shorelines of Lake Victoria and Lake Albert in East Africa [16] and in West Africa.[17]

Present and past collaborations

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Wade currently has active collaborations with researchers in the United Kingdom (LSTM and the Natural History Museum), India (Kerala Forest Research Institute), Pakistan (COMSATS University), the Philippines (University of the Philippines), Vietnam (Vietnam National Museum of Nature), Thailand (Chulalongkorn University), Kenya (Karen) and The Gambia (National Public Health Laboratories and the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Christopher M. Wade - The University of Nottingham". www.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  2. ^ a b "ORCID". orcid.org. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  3. ^ "GulfBase". www.gulfbase.org. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  4. ^ "ResearchGate". researchgate.net. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  5. ^ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  6. ^ "Scopus preview - Wade, Christopher Mark - Author details - Scopus". www.scopus.com. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  7. ^ Darling, K.F.; Wade, C.M.; Stewart, I.A.; Kroon, D.; Dingle, R.; Leigh Brown, A.J. (2000-05-04). "Molecular evidence for genetic mixing of Arctic and Antarctic subpolar populations of planktonic foraminifers". Nature. 405: 43–47. doi:10.1038/35011002. ISSN 0028-0836.
  8. ^ Darling, K.F.; Wade, C.M.; Kroon, D.; Kroon, D.; Leigh Brown, A.J.; Bijma, J. (1999-02-01). "The diversity and distribution of modern planktic foraminiferal small subunit ribosomal RNA genotypes and their potential as tracers of present and past ocean circulations". Paleoceanography. 14 (1): 3–12. doi:10.1029/1998PA900002. ISSN 0883-8305.
  9. ^ Darling, K.F.; Wade, C.M. (2008-05-01). "The genetic diversity of planktic foraminifera and the global distribution of ribosomal RNA genotypes". Marine Micropaleontology. 67 (3–4): 216–238. doi:10.1016/j.marmicro.2008.01.009. ISSN 0377-8398.
  10. ^ Seears, H.A.; Darling, K.F.; Wade, C.M. (2012-04-16). "Ecological partitioning and diversity in tropical planktonic foraminifera". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 12: 54. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-54. hdl:20.500.11820/f2ab3f2c-d7fc-4699-8854-75a195b838bf. ISSN 2730-7182.
  11. ^ Darling, K.F.; Kucera, M.; Kroon, D.; Wade, C.M. (2009-06-01). "A resolution for the coiling direction paradox in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma". Paleoceanography. 21 (2): PA2011. doi:10.1029/2005PA001189. ISSN 0883-8305.
  12. ^ Darling, K.F.; Thomas, E.; Kasemann, S.A.; Seears, H.A.; Smart, C.W.; Wade, C.M. (2009-08-04). "Surviving mass extinction by bridging the benthic/planktic divide". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 106 (31): 12629–12633. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902827106. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2722328.
  13. ^ Wade, C.M.; Mordan, P.B.; Naggs, F. (2006-04-01). "Evolutionary relationships among the Pulmonate land snails and slugs (Pulmonata, Stylommatophora)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 87 (4): 593–610. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2006.00596.x. ISSN 0024-4066.
  14. ^ Saadi, A.J.; Wade, C.M (2019-10-01). "Resolving the basal divisions in the stylommatophoran land snails and slugs with special emphasis on the position of the Scolodontidae". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 139: 106529. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106529. ISSN 1055-7903.
  15. ^ Saadi, A.J.; Davison, A.; Wade, C.M (2006-04-01). "Molecular phylogeny of freshwater snails and limpets (Panpulmonata: Hygrophila)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (2): 518–531. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz177. ISSN 0024-4082.
  16. ^ Andrus, P.S.; Stothard, J.R.; Wade, C.M (2023-08-14). "Seasonal patterns of Schistosoma mansoni infection within Biomphalaria snails at the Ugandan shorelines of Lake Albert and Lake Victoria". PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 17 (8): e0011506. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0011506. ISSN 1935-2735.
  17. ^ Joof, E.; Sanneh, B.; Sambou, S.M; Wade, C.M (2021-10-04). "Species diversity and distribution of schistosome intermediate snail hosts in The Gambia". PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 15 (10): e0009823. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009823. ISSN 1935-2735.