Professor of Parasite Biology at the University of Edinburgh, Keith Matthews has pioneered understanding of the transmission biology of African trypanosomes, parasites that cause Human African sleeping sickness as well as widespread livestock disease throughout sub-Saharan Africa. His work integrates parasite biology, molecular and cellular biology, and has led to fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control trypanosome transmission and virulence. These findings have wide relevance across a broad range of protozoan pathogens, where cell-cell communication and environmental-sensing processes are emerging as important contributors to the dynamics of infection and disease transmission.