Beale gained MRC funding in 1966 to embark on a programme conducting genetic analyses of malaria parasites. Walliker was suggested to Beale as a collaborator by Professor P.C.C. Garnham at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who had supervised Garnham's PhD on fish parasites. By early 1970, the first genetic cross had been successfully conducted in a rodent malaria parasite, which demonstrated the Mendelian nature of genetic inheritance of malaria parasites. Walliker took over the direction of this project after Beale's retirement and became the leading figure in the Edinburgh malaria genetics programme. In 1986, Walliker was made an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh.