Brandy St Laurent – Entomology Seminar

Abstract:  Brandy is a research associate in Courtney Murdock’s lab. She will discuss her previous work investigating different aspects of malaria transmission Southeast Asia, including the transmissibility of drug-resistant malaria parasites and the feeding ecology of diverse vector species. Global malaria elimination efforts are now being threatened by an invasive South Asian urban malaria vector Anopheles stephensi. Changing climate and shifts in land use are also rapidly changing the landscape for malaria transmission. While the effects of temperature on malaria transmission have been investigated, the influence of humidity on mosquito and pathogen parameters affecting disease dynamics are less understood. In the Murdock lab, we have investigated the impact of humidity on the relationship between temperature and natural history traits in larval stage and adult mosquitoes. To investigate the impact of both temperature and humidity on parasite development in this mosquito, we infected An. stephensi with Plasmodium falciparum NF54 and placed infected mosquitoes under variable temperature (16°C – 36°C) and relative humidity (30-90%) conditions. Midguts and salivary glands of infected mosquitoes were dissected every three days post-infection to quantify the developmental timing of oocysts and sporozoites. We will discuss the infection outcomes under these range of temperatures and previously uninvestigated variation in relative humidity. Understanding the dynamics of malaria infection in An. stephensi will help us to better predict and model the environmental suitability for this invasive vector.