Tag: Disease Ecology and Evolution

Climate change dramatically impacts freshwater ecosystems, which are becoming warmer, more acidic, and nutrient rich. The collective influence of the microbial inhabitants of these ecosystems, despite their tiny size, can have an immense impact on water quality. However, we lack fundamental knowledge on the ecology[...]

REGISTER HERE: cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form  CIHMID, and the Cornell Center For Immunology (CCFI) will present a joint research symposium, open to the Cornell community. And despite the uncertainty surrounding Covid, and the Omicron variant specifically, CIHMID and CCFI are confident our joint symposium will be safe, and accessible for all attendees. As of right now our plan is to […]

We are actively engaged in defining the signals that enable effector T cells to ‘find’ areas of infection and damage within inflamed tissues. We utilize intravital multiphoton microscopy and optogenetic tools to visualize and manipulate effector CD4+ T cells in situ. These approaches have revealed extrinsic[...]

I am interested in finding better ways of controlling the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue and Zika viruses. Specifically, I am interested in determining how they move through their environment and the effect that has on different control strategies. The mosquito virome, the[...]

Dengue (DEN) is the most prevalent arthropod-borne viral (arboviral) disease in the world; DEN disease incidence has increased dramatically in the last 50 years. Ae. aegypti is the most important vector of DENV to human hosts and the vector remains persistently infected with DENV for life. Understanding interepidemic maintenance of the virus is essential for […]

With a dual focus on viral pathogenesis and stem cell biology, the objective of Dr. Gerlinde Van de Walle’s research is to open up new avenues towards therapeutic intervention by better understanding the pathogenesis of diseases important to veterinary and human medicine. To this end,[...]

Research in my lab probes the environmental, structural and physiological basis of bacterial survival. The majority of earth’s microbes exist in a non-growing, surival state, making it important to better understand the mechanisms underpinning this physiological state. We primarily use the environmental zoonotic pathogen, Coxiella burnetii (causative agent[...]

Parasite life history strategies within the host, especially the timing of replication and transmission, influence disease severity and spread. I study how subtle differences in ecology within and outside the host can generate dramatic differences in parasite strategies. My research program uses two major approaches: Building ecologically-detailed models to ask when and why particular strategies […]

My group studies cell envelope stress responses of Gram-negative pathogens. We are defining regulatory pathways and functional networks of enzymes involved in cell wall degradation, modification and synthesis as well as factors required for upholding outer membrane barrier function. We seek to understand these processes to gain insight into the mechanistic underpinnings of cell growth […]

Numerous studies demonstrate that vector-borne pathogens, such as viruses, influence host characteristics that result in altered host-vector interactions and enhanced virus transmission. We seek to determine the molecular mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon and use this knowledge to develop innovative control strategies using genetic and biochemical approaches. Current focuses are on changes in plant signaling […]