معرفی
Dr. Tobias E. Hector is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, working within the King Lab. His research examines the critical intersection of thermal biology, host-parasite interactions, and climate change, focusing on how rising temperatures reshape infectious disease dynamics and host thermal performance across ecological and evolutionary timescales.
His primary research investigates how parasite exposure drives shifts in host thermal tolerance and the cascading consequences for host and parasite responses to environmental warming. Key interests include eco-evolutionary feedback loops in disease systems, thermal acclimation effects on host immunity, and the molecular mechanisms underlying pathogen virulence under temperature stress. This work integrates experimental ecology with evolutionary theory to predict disease outbreak risks in rapidly changing climates.
Analysis of Dr. Hector's 15 recent publications (2019-2025) reveals a cohesive research trajectory centered on temperature-pathogen-host interdependencies. Dominant themes include warming-induced excess mortality in infected ectotherms, thermal acclimation as a protective mechanism against pathogens, and pathogen molecular evolution driven by within-host competition. His studies span thermal physiology, disease ecology, and evolutionary biology, consistently highlighting climate change as a catalyst for altered host-pathogen dynamics.
Dr. Hector is embedded in the King Lab at the University of Oxford, a research group specializing in experimental investigations of climate-disease interactions. The lab employs controlled thermal environments and multi-host pathogen systems to dissect mechanisms linking environmental change to infectious disease outcomes, with strong emphasis on physiological and evolutionary processes.
