Vector Biology

• George Dimopoulos and his group are targeting parasite/vector interactions, with a particular interest in mechanisms of the mosquito's immune system implicated in killing parasites.
  
  
• Rhoel Dinglasan’s lab is focused on understanding the role of protein-glycan interactions in parasite (ookinetes and sporozoites) recognition, attachment and invasion of host cells during transit from man to mosquito and back to man.   The underlying goal of this work will be to develop small molecular mimics as therapeutics which can break these processes and thereby stop parasite establishment in mosquitoes and humans. 
  
  

• Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena's team has developed a genetically-modified mosquito that is impaired for parasite transmission. They are currently investigating the molecular mechanisms by which the malaria parasite moves in the mosquito to allow transmission from one vertebrate host to another. 

• Environmental control is the focus of Douglas Norris and his laboratory colleagues. The group has found differential levels of insecticide resistance in mosquitoes from African villages using differing levels of agricultural insecticides. They are using molecular population genetics to investigate the structure of mosquito populations with the goal of understanding the flow of resistance to insecticides or parasite infection from one population to the next.