Chenhua Li

Biography

I grew up in China and completed my BSc degree in agriculture at the Northwest A&F University. Then I went to Winnipeg, Canada, for my MSc at the University of Manitoba and started my journey with parasites. I used stable isotope analysis to fill gaps in our knowledge of parasite lifecycles and transmission. 

One summer, I found a Leucochloridium-infected snail during my field collection, and I became fascinated by the host manipulation phenomenon. That led me to work on host manipulation for my PhD at the University of Calgary, where I studied the mechanisms underlying the zombie ant behaviour caused by the lancet liver fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum. I'm looking forward to explore the parasites in New Zealand with my time here at the University of Otago.