Dr. Kerri Coon, Assistant Professor at UW-Madison in the Department of Bacteriology, will present a talk about her work entitled, “Gut microbial diversity and function in mosquitos.” Click here to learn about her work.

The abstract for the talk is as follows:

Research in my lab centers on insect-microbe interactions, with a current focus on those between mosquitoes and their gut microbiota. We integrate field and lab-based experiments with bioinformatic approaches to tease apart the mechanisms by which microbes regulate fundamental processes in their mosquito hosts, from their development and reproduction to their ability to transmit disease-causing agents to humans and other mammals. In this talk, I’ll present past results characterizing a mechanism by which microbes regulate the growth and development of mosquitoes from larvae into adults. I’ll then present results from more recent efforts by my lab to characterize factors that shape gut microbial community assembly in diverse mosquito species. The significance of this work, both for the control of mosquito-borne pathogens and our broader understanding of mosquito evolution, will also be discussed.

The presentation will begin at 4:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 3:45 – 4:00 PM.