My research interest is in the evolution of life history strategies in response to a changing environment. Organisms change (evolve) to adapt to their living conditions, leading to a maximum reproductive success in that environment. However, the best strategies to grow, survive and reproduce (life history strategies) in one environment, may not be the best strategies in another environment. What happens to organisms when the environment changes, especially if changes result from human action?
My research focuses on how disease control methods, besides their desired effect, can affect life history strategies and more specifically if human interventions such as drug treatment could have detrimental side effects in the long-term, including selection of more virulent parasites or increased transmission.
Research Fellow
University of Edinburgh, UK [10/2008-07/2011]
Does suboptimal drug treatment alter parasite virulence and transmission?
Postdoctoral researcher
University of Edinburgh, UK [05/06-09/08]
Does suboptimal drug treatment select for more virulent malaria parasites?
PhD research project
UMCN, NL [01/03-03/06]
Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum gametocytaemia and the contribution to malaria transmission. Fieldwork in Kenya.
Junior Researcher
University Medical Centre Nijmegen, NL [01/01-12/05]
Quantitative detection of stage-specific RNA to study Plasmodium falciparum transmission stages.
Junior Researcher
Wageningen University, NL [09/98-12/00]
The effects of environmental change on malaria transmission. Fieldwork in Kenya & Brazil
MSc project
Wellcome Trust Centre for Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, Oxford, UK [09/97-04/98]
Epidemiology of P. falciparum infections in children in Papua New Guinea.
Field & laboratory assistant
Centre National du Paludisme, Lomé, Togo [06/97-08/97]
MSc project
Wageningen University, NL [09/96-05/97]
Interspecific competition among larvae of Anopheles gambiae s.s. and A. arabiensis.
PhD medical sciences
Parasitology. Radboud University Nijmegen, NL
[03/06]
MSc entomology
Medical entomology Wageningen University, NL
[6/98]
BSc plant sciences
Biological crop protection. Wageningen University, NL
[07/96]
10/08-10/10 Wellcome Trust, research fellowship at Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution
2007 Nominated for ‘Simon Stevin Gezel 2007'. Top 10 of ‘technological top talents 2007' by Dutch Foundation for Tecnhnological Sciences
01/03-12/05 Dutch Foundation for Technological Sciences (€129600 + 2 fte). 3yr research grant incl. research expenses, fellowship to PS for 3yr PhD and a 3-yr full-time PGRA
2005 Travel grant to Dr. Omar from the KEMRI to be trained in use of QT-NASBA by P. Schneider. Dutch Foundation for Technological Sciences. (€9400)
2005 Travel grant BSP in Nottingham, UK. Dutch Society for Parasitology (€500)
2000 Travel grant 11th Intl Entomology Congress, Brazil. Agricultural Export Bureau (FL 2000)
1999 Travel grant ‘Biology of disease Vectors' course in Brazil. Dutch Scientific Research Foundation (FL 3500) and Agricultural Export Bureau (FL 2000)
Science communication: Researchers in Residence Program
Member of University of Edinburgh, School of Biology press gang
Review of scientific papers: Journal of Infectious Diseases; Trends in Parasitology; Tropical Medicine and International Health; Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology; Malaria Journal; International Journal for Parasitology; Journal for Evolutionary Biology
A. O'Donnell, P. Schneider, H. McWatters and S. Reece. Fitness costs of disrupting circadian rhythms in malaria parasites. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B (2011) (doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2457).
L. Pollitt, N. Mideo, D. Drew, P. Schneider, N. Colegrave and S. Reece. Competition and the evolution of reproductive restraint in malaria parasites. American Naturalist (2011) accepted.
S. Reece, E. Ali, P. Schneider and H. Babiker. Stress, drugs and the evolution of reproductive restraint in malaria parasites. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B (2010), 277: 3123-3129. (doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0564).
A. Ouédraogo, T. Bousema, P. Schneider et al. Substantial contribution of submicroscopical Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriage to the infectious reservoir in an area of seasonal transmission. PloS One (2009) 4: e8410. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008410)
P. Schneider, et al. Antimalarial drugs: unexpected evolutionary consequences. Malaria Journal (2010) 9: S2, P45. (doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-9-S2-P45)
P. Schneider, B.HK. Chan, S.E. Reece and A.F. Read (2008). Does the drug sensitivity of malaria parasites depend on their virulence? Malaria Journal 7:257 
Commentary: Trends in Parasitology
H. Babiker,
P. Schneider & S. Reece (2008). Gametocytes: Insights gained during a decade of molecular monitoring. Trends in Parasitology 2008, 24 (11): 525-530
H. Babiker and P. Schneider (2008). Application of molecular methods for monitoring transmission stages of malaria parasites. Biomedical Materials 2008, 3(3): 034007
P. Schneider, T. Bousema, L. Gouagna, S. Otieno, S. Omar, M. vd Vegte-Bolmer, & R. Sauerwein (2007). Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte densities frequently result in mosquito infection. Am J Trop Med Hyg 76 (3): 470-4.
A. Ouédraogo, P. Schneider, M. de Kruijf, I. Nebié, J-P. Verhave, N. Cuzin-Ouattara & R. Sauerwein (2007). Age-dependent distribution of gametocytes quantified by Pfs25 real-time QT-NASBA in a cross-sectional study in Burkina Faso. Am J Trop Med Hyg 76 (4): 626-30.
P. Schneider (2006). Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum gametocytaemia and the contribution to malaria transmission. Thesis. ISBN: 90-9020374-5.
P. Schneider, T. Bousema, S. Omar, L. Gouagna, P. Sawa, H. Schallig & R. Sauerwein (2006). (Sub)microscopic Plasmodium falciparum gametocytaemia in Kenyan children after treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine monotherapy or in combination with artesunate. Int J Parasitol 36 (4): 403-8.
T. Bousema, P. Schneider, L. Gouagna, C. Drakeley, A. Tostmann, R. Houben, J. Githure, R. Ord, C. Sutherland, S. Omar & R. Sauerwein (2006). Moderate effect of artemisinin-based combination therapy on transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. J Infect Dis 193: 1151-9.
C. Koenraadt, K. Paaijmans, P. Schneider, A. Githeko & W. Takken (2006). Low larval survival explains unstable malaria in the western Kenya highlands. Trop Med Int Health 11 (8): 1195-1205.
W. Takken, P. Vilarinhos, P. Schneider & F. dos Santos (2006). Effects of environmental change on malaria in the Amazon region of Brazil. Chapter 11 in: Environmental Change and Malaria Risk: Global and Local Implications, Wageningen UR Frontis Series, Volume 9, 150p.
P. Schneider, L. Wolters, G. Schoone, H. Schallig, P. Sillekens, R. Hermsen and R. Sauerwein (2005). Real-time Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification is more convenient than real-time PCR for quantification of P. falciparum. J Clin Microbiol 43 (1): 402-5.
P. Schneider, G. Schoone, H. Schallig, D. Verhage, D. Telgt, W. Eling & R. Sauerwein (2004). Quantification of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in differential stages of development by quantitative nucleic acid sequence-based amplification. Mol Biochem Parasit 137: 35-41.
W. vd Meide, G. Schoone, P. Schneider, W. Faber, S. Omar, & H. Schallig. (2004) Application of Quantitative Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification (QT-NASBA) as a new tool for the diagnosis and therapy efficacy assessment of parasitic infections. Proceedings of the 9th European Multicolloquium of Parasitology- EMOP p. 337-42.
R. Etienne, B. Wertheim, L. Hemerik, P. Schneider & J. Powell (2002). Interaction between dispersal, the Allee effect and scramble competition on population dynamics: a case study on Drosophila. Ecol Model 148: 153-68.
R. Etienne, B. Wertheim, L. Hemerik, P. Schneider & J. Powell (2000). Dispersal may enable persistence of fruit flies suffering from the Allee effect and scramble competition. Proceedings of the Section Experimental and Applied Entomology - Netherlands Entomological Society 11: 121-8.
P. Schneider, W. Takken & P. McCall (2000). Interspecific competition between sibling species larvae of Anopheles arabiensis and An. gambiae. Med Vet Entomol 14(2): 165-70.
