[2] Wade studies the evolution, population genetics and taxonomy of aquatic and terrestrial snails and slugs and investigates snail-borne parasitic diseases of medical and veterinary importance (including Schistosomiasis, Angiostrongyliasis and Fascioliasis).

[5] Wade has published research articles on several different topics such as determining the evolutionary relationships and taxonomy in terrestrial and aquatic snails and slugs; studying the intermediate gastropod hosts capable of transmitting gastropod-borne helminthic diseases to humans and animals; examining the evolution and biogeography of planktic and benthic foraminifera and seasonal variations in coastal populations; and the molecular phylogeography of fish populations.

[6] Together with colleague Kate Darling, Wade demonstrated that foraminifera exchange genes globally, with gene flow between the Arctic and Antarctic[7] and the Pacific and Atlantic,[8] yet individual species are highly diverse and composed of multiple 'cryptic' species groups.

[9][10] They demonstrated that shell coiling is a genetic trait, not the result of ecophenotypic variation,[11] and that foraminifera survive mass extinction events by bridging the benthic-planktic divide.

[17] Wade currently has active collaborations with researchers in the United Kingdom (LSTM and the Natural History Museum), India (Kerala Forest Research Institute), Pakistan (COMSATS University), the Philippines (University of the Philippines), Vietnam (Vietnam National Museum of Nature), Thailand (Chulalongkorn University), Kenya (Karen) and The Gambia (National Public Health Laboratories and the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory).