Profile
Dr Crystal Vincent works at the interface of infection biology, metabolism, immunity, and pathogen evolution. She completed her Honours BSc in Zoology and PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral research focused on sexual dimorphism in immunity.
Crystal continued her research in host–pathogen biology in the Dionne lab at Imperial College London, developing a programme that examines how host identity shapes infection outcome. Her work brings together whole-organism infection models, microbiology, genetics, metabolism, and evolutionary biology to understand why infections progress differently in different hosts.
Crystal joined QMUL as a lecturer in 2023.
Undergraduate Teaching
- BMD100 Essential Skills for Biomedical Scientists
- BMD117 The Microbial World and Humans
- BMD323 Infectious Disease
Postgraduate Teaching
- MSc Molecular Cell Biology Supervisor
Research
Research Interests:
Research in the group asks how host identity and pathogen evolution interact to determine infection outcome. By integrating metabolism, sex-specific immunity, disease tolerance, and bacterial evolution, our group aims to reveal the biological mechanisms that explain why infections progress differently in different hosts, and how host biology influences pathogen evolution.
Main projects in the group ask:
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How do immune-metabolic responses influence disease tolerance, pathology, and survival?
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How males and females differ in their physiological responses to infection, and how these differences shape disease outcome?
Work in the group also examines the pathogen side of the host–pathogen interaction by studying how host identity, including sex and metabolic state, shapes pathogen evolution.