George Christophides

George Christophides is a Professor of Infectious Diseases and Immunity at Imperial College London and Director of the Vector Immunogenomics and Infection Laboratory. He holds adjunct roles at the Cyprus Institute and has held visiting positions at institutions globally. His research focuses on mosquito immunity, malaria transmission, and climate change impacts on health. He completed his PhD at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and has led international projects funded by the Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His work includes developing gene drive strategies to engineer malaria-resistant mosquitoes and advancing synthetic biology tools. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and contributes to global health policy through organizations like the IPCC and IAP.

Education: PhD (2000) and BSc (1993) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Academic roles include Reader (2009–2011) and Senior Lecturer (2005–2009) at Imperial College London, as well as leadership roles at the Cyprus Institute (President 2020–2021, Associate Dean 2014–2020).

Research interests span vector biology, microbial interactions, and climate change's role in disease spread. Key contributions include sequencing mosquito genomes and pioneering functional genomics. His lab explores mechanisms to block malaria transmission, such as targeting Plasmodium sporogony and engineering resistant populations via gene drives. Collaborations with institutions worldwide emphasize translational research and global health equity.

Awards: Wellcome Trust Investigator (2015–2021), Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. His work is supported by grants from the Gates Foundation and European initiatives. He advises on climate change adaptation and vector-borne disease control, authoring reports for the IPCC and IAP.

Grants and collaborations include projects on gene drive efficacy, climate modeling for disease vectors, and microbiome effects on mosquito immunity. His lab's interdisciplinary approach integrates genomics, immunology, and environmental science to address global health challenges.