Susan Ford

   Susan Ford is a pathobiologist with 30 year's experience in the field of shellfish diseases. She has undergraduate (Rutgers, 1978) and graduate (Duke, 1984) degrees in zoology, with a physiology emphasis. Her research has spanned the gamut from epizootiological investigations of populations to studies at the molecular level. The principal themes have been host-parasite-environment interactions, including the effects of long-term climate change on disease spread, and mechanisms of resistance to parasites and diseases. Her most extensive set of work has been on the parasite Haplosporidium nelsoni, which causes MSX disease of the eastern oyster, and she has recently participated in the development of a numerical model describing this host-parasite relationship. Other current projects include a study of the causes and consequences of the recent range extension of Dermo disease in oysters (caused by the parasite, Perkinsus marinus); a study of factors influencing QPX disease of hard clams; the use of molecular probes to investigate the life cycle of H. nelsoni; and the use of flow cytometry to investigate molluscan hemocytes and their role in defense against pathogens.