Mosquitoes use multiple host-associated cues to efficiently locate sources of blood. While detection mechanisms for longer-range cues like CO2 and odors have been widely studied, less is known about how mosquitoes sense the short-range heat and humidity gradients surrounding hosts. We recently demonstrated that heat-seeking in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae is driven by cooling-activated neurons requiring the Ionotropic Receptor (IR) subunit IR21a.

Simon Snoeck | Steinbrenner Lab
"Evolutionary gain and loss of a plant pattern-recognition receptor for HAMP recognition"

Sarah Guiziou | Nemhauser Lab
"Integrases to record gene-expression during plant development"

Kristen Finch | Wasser Lab
“Designing and deploying forensic DNA tests for counter wildlife trafficking”