Topic: Biological invasions by commensal rodents in Senegal: an ideal system for studying the links between pollution, biodiversity and health
Dates: 19 February 2024 – 18 February 2025
CBGP manager: C. Diagne
Funding: LABEX CEMEB Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024

Hugo is working with Christophe Diagne as part of a 12-month postdoctoral fellowship awarded in December 2023 by Labex CEMEB. Hugo will carry out part of his work at the ChronoEnvironnement Joint Research Unit (Besançon), where he is hosted by Professor Renaud Scheifler (University of Franche-Comté).

His research focuses on the links between pollution, host-parasite relationships, and changes in biodiversity, which, paradoxically, remain largely unexplored. This is particularly the case in West Africa, where increasing human impact on the environment is facilitating the bio-invasion of rodents that act as reservoirs for numerous diseases posing a public health risk, as well as their contamination by pollutants – both of which are likely to exacerbate this infectious risk. The project aims to study variations in the toxicological profiles of trace metals (TMs) in rodents in Senegal in the context of biological invasions, and then to assess potential links with host health (immunity, parasitism).