I have over 40 years' experience of working on ticks and tick-borne pathogens at the University of Edinburgh (1977-2012, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine and the Roslin Institute), The Pirbright Institute (2012-2017) and now the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Edinburgh. I've worked on theileriosis, babesiosis and heartwater in vivo and in vitro, including 3 years in Ghana (1994-1997), and more recently on tick-borne viruses. My particular expertise lies in generation of cell lines from ticks and other arthropods, and cultivation of microorganisms therein, including Ehrlichia, Anaplasma and Rickettsia spp. Since 2009 I have managed the Tick Cell Biobank, the world's only dedicated culture collection for tick and other arthropod cell lines (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/health-and-life-sciences/research/liverpool-shared-research-facilities/bio-resources/tick-cell-biobank).