Matteo comes from Indonesia, a country with too many mosquitoes that carry various deadly diseases including malaria (and thus has a vendetta against them). They have somehow avoided getting any vector-bone diseases so far. During their MRes. in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Glasgow, they discovered the world of malaria research and fell in love with it, especially when they got to dissect Anopheline mosquitoes.
They are currently a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD student in Hosts, Pathogens, and Global Health. Their project is about discovering if disease tolerance delays the development of anti-parasite immunity in human malaria.
Outside of work, they are almost always dancing (and are part of the university's competition team!), napping, reading mangas, talking to people about their research, and getting new tattoos and piercings.