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School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences

Dr Crystal Vincent

Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Biomedicine

Email: c.vincent@qmul.ac.uk

Profile
Teaching
Research
Publications

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:

How do immune-metabolic responses influence disease tolerance, pathology, and survival?
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.

Publications

2025

Bridging genomics’ greatest challenge: The diversity gap

Cell Genomics 5(1):100724 Jan 2025 (Journal article)

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2024

Microbial metabolism disrupts cytokine activity to impact host immune response

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 121(46):e2405719121 12 Nov 2024 (Journal article)

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A humoral stress response protects Drosophila tissues from antimicrobial peptides

Current Biology 34(7):1426-1437.e6 Apr 2024 (Journal article)

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2022

Infection increases activity via Toll dependent and independent mechanisms in Drosophila melanogaster

PLOS Pathogens 18(9):e1010826 (Journal article)

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2021

Disparate regulation of IMD signaling drives sex differences in infection pathology in Drosophila melanogaster

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118(32):e2026554118 10 Aug 2021 (Journal article)

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2020

Origins of Metabolic Pathology in Francisella-Infected Drosophila

Frontiers in Immunology 11:1419 (Journal article)

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Muscle function and homeostasis require cytokine inhibition of AKT activity in Drosophila

9:e51595 (Journal article)

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2015

The effect of parasites on sex differences in selection

Heredity 114(4):367-372 Apr 2015 (Journal article)

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2014

Sex-biased immunity is driven by relative differences in reproductive investment

Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281(1790):20140333 07 Sep 2014 (Journal article)

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Sexual antagonism for resistance and tolerance to infection in Drosophila melanogaster

Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281(1788):20140987 07 Aug 2014 (Journal article)

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2012

Success of the Parasitoid Fly Ormia ochracea (Diptera: Tachinidae) on Natural and Unnatural Cricket Hosts

Florida Entomologist 95(1):43-48 Mar 2012 (Journal article)

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2010

Reproductive Compensation: A Review of the Gryllus spp.—Ormia ochracea Host-Parasitoid System

Journal of Insect Behavior 23(5):340-347 Sep 2010 (Journal article)

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Collection and Laboratory Culture of Ormia ochracea (Diptera: Tachinidae)

Journal of Entomological Science 45(1):1-7 Jan 2010 (Journal article)

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Crickets groom to avoid lethal parasitoids

Animal Behaviour 79(1):51-56 Jan 2010 (Journal article)

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