Nanoseminar 16 December - dr. Felix Hol (Radboud UMC)

Speaker: Felix J.H. Hol - Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Title: Bites, Blood & Behavior - biophysical approaches to mosquito behavior and pathogen transmission.

Abstract: Female mosquitoes obtain a blood meal necessary for reproduction through a fascinating behavioral trajectory that culminates in the mosquito bite. The mosquito bite is a crucial, yet poorly understood event in the transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens. It is for instance unknown how pathogens influence biting behavior, and the dynamics of biting and pathogen transmission during the bite are poorly characterized. These knowledge gaps are largely due to a lack of experimental tools. We leverage advances in bioengineering, quantitative imaging, and machine learning to develop quantitative tools to study mosquito behavior and pathogen transmission across scales. I will discuss how we use these tools to quantify the impact of dengue virus on biting behavior, and interpret these observations in the context of dengue transmission. I will furthermore highlight recent work using microfluidics to characterize the 'within skin' dynamics of a mosquito's search for blood.