We are delighted to congratulate Professor Kayla King, who has been awarded the Francis Crick Medal and Lecture for contributions to the fields of evolutionary biology and genetics of infectious disease. Awarded annually by the Royal Society, the Medal has a particular focus on genetics, molecular biology, and neurobiology, the general areas in which Francis Crick worked, and to fundamental theoretical work, which was the hallmark of Crick’s science.
Kayla specialises in testing evolutionary theory using host-pathogen interactions, aiming to unravel how traits such as virulence and transmissibility evolve in established and emerging pathogens, and her work has advanced our understanding of infectious disease evolution. On being awarded the Medal, Kayla says:
“It is an immense privilege to have my research recognised by the Royal Society of London. I feel fortunate every day to be able to think about science and make new discoveries, together with my brilliant students and excellent colleagues. I am thrilled that my fields of study, evolutionary biology and genetics of infectious disease, are being highlighted by this Crick Medal.”
Kayla’s research has provided insight into why some pathogens are more harmful than others. Her work has shown, for example, that rising temperatures and loss of genetic diversity in host populations can both drive changes in pathogen virulence. Her research has also asked how pathogens evolve as they emerge in animal species. Kayla says:
“Today, the public has a good sense of pathogen evolution because of the COVID-19 pandemic: variants emerge and can spread if they are the best at infecting. I am increasingly interested in what kinds of variants might emerge and spread as animals (for example, mosquitoes) move their pathogens around with climate change. This question is particularly important for pathogens with the potential to jump to livestock or humans. I am also interested in the co-evolution of animals and pathogens. Pathogens can evolve to better infect their animal hosts, which can reciprocally improve at resisting infection. We are trying to better understand how environmental change might upset these coevolutionary races. For example, warming might cause animals to fall behind in the race, with consequences for wildlife conservation, agriculture, and biodiversity.”
Reflecting on her career so far, Kayla adds:
“My research has been shaped by the environments where I have worked. I was first introduced to evolutionary biology research as an undergraduate at UBC in the lab of Professor Dolph Schluter FRS. With my Royal Society Newton Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Liverpool, I learned how to incorporate experimental evolution and genomics approaches into my research. I then established my own research group in the supportive environment of the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, a hotspot for evolutionary biology and infectious disease research. My colleagues taught me that we can learn a lot about evolutionary biology by studying infectious diseases and their interactions with hosts.”
