Welcome to the website of Dr. Anne Vardo-Zalik. I am an Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State York. I have a strong fascination for all things parasitic and enjoy introducing students to the wild and crazy worlds of Parasitology, Microbiology, Invertebrates and Ecology.
Dr. Vardo-Zalik Lab News:
Lots of fun, recognition, and research happening!
2023: Dr. VZ and her collaborators finally publish their long-awaited manuscript on the effects of drought on lizard malaria! https://peerj.com/articles/14908/
2020: Dr. VZ is highlighted on the American Society of Parasitologist’s Member Spotlight Blog : https://www.amsocparasit.org/post/member-spotlight-dr-anne-vardo-zalik
2020: Dr. VZ is funded through the Washington Biologists Field Club to explore blood pathogens and viral infections in eastern fence lizards and box tortoises!
pre-2020 news
2019: Dr. VZ is funded through a PSU collaborative grant to help sequence the genome of Plasmodium mexicanum!
2019: Greg Lutz was awarded one of two Achievement in the Biological Sciences Awards and Hayley Hurt was received honors from the Keystone Honor’s Society at the PSU York annual academic awards ceremony.
2019: Greg Lutz won the top undergraduate presentation at the spring Helminthological Society of Washington meeting. Woooo! (Below is a picture of our crew at the meeting.)
2019: Huntur Woodard received a summer Student Engagement Grant to fund his summer research!
2019: Hayley Hurt and Josh Wolgamuth received Erickson Discovery Grants to fund their summer research and SEN grants to continue their analysis!
2018: Greg Lutz receives an Erickson Discovery Grant and Student Engagement Grant to study the physiological causation of parasitic host manipulation, using a beetle-tapeworm system!
2018: Josh Wolgamuth was awarded the campus Student Leadership Award!
2018: Hayley Hurt wins the best scholarly student poster at the PSU York research fair!
2018: Dr. VZ and her lab group hosts the 719th meeting of HelmSoc at PSU York!
2018: Dr. VZ wins the Penn State Teaching Fellow award from the Alumni Association!
2017: Dr. VZ receives promotion and tenure at Penn State!
2017: Brittany Aquino wins an honorable mention for her poster presentation at the annual HelmSoc meeting. Yay!
2015 HREC and Dr. VZ partner to make a video highlighting the important of the long-term lizard malaria research project (below).
2014 Victoria gets her research published in the Journal of Parasitology!
2014 Shanna-Kay and Komal get their research published in the Journal of Vector Ecology!
2013 Dr. VZ wins the 2013 James H. Burness award for teaching excellence!
2012 Victoria Motz receives a Summer Discovery Grant from University Park to fund her research on lizard immune response to malaria parasite infection!