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CANCELLED - Neurobiology of the World’s Most Dangerous Animal

Air date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 3:00:00 PM
Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Description: This is an NIH Director's Lecture. Speaker Leslie Vosshall is interested in the molecular neurobiology of mosquito host-seeking behavior. Female mosquitoes require a blood meal to complete egg development. In carrying out this innate behavior, mosquitoes spread dangerous infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and yellow fever. Humans attract mosquitoes via multiple sensory cues including emitted body odor, heat, and carbon dioxide in the breath. The mosquito perceives differences in these cues, both between and within species, to determine which animal or human to target for blood-feeding. We have developed CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing in the Aedes aegypti mosquito with the goal of understanding how sensory cues are integrated by the female mosquito to lead to host-seeking behavior. Some of the questions we are currently addressing are: Why are some people more attractive to mosquitoes than others? How do insect repellents work? How are multiple sensory cues integrated in the mosquito brain to elicit innate behaviors? How do female mosquitoes select a suitable body of water to lay their eggs?

For more information go to https://oir.nih.gov/wals
Author: Leslie Vosshall, Ph.D., HHMI Investigator; Robin Chemers Neustein Professor; Head, Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller Institute
Runtime: 1 hour