Christian Ranaivoson, Postdoc, Madagascar

Christian is just finishing his PhD in the Department of Zoology and Animal Biodiversity at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar, and has already started his appointment as a postdoctoral researcher in the Virology Unit at Institut Pasteur de Madagascar. Christian’s PhD research focused on the distribution and transmission of intra-erythrocytic parasites of Malagasy fruit bats, specifically Babesia spp. infections of the Madagascan flying fox, Pteropus rufus, and Bartonella spp. infections of the Madagascan fruit bat, Eidolon dupreanum. As a postdoc, Christian will lead Next Generation Sequencing studies with targeting viral discovery in Malagasy fruit bats. Christian holds a Master’s degree in Biology, Ecology, and Animal Conservation from the University of Antananarivo and has previously studied infections of Malagasy crayfishes and nematode parsites of Malagasy reptiles.