I attended the 57th annual conference of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Health (ASTMH) from December 7-11, 2008. Researchers from all over the globe converged in New Orleans to talk about diverse areas of insect-borne disease research spanning from insect biochemistry to ongoing clinical trials in countries such as Kenya and South Korea.

My research focuses on digestion of blood meal by the mosquito Aedes aegypti in order to design novel, mosquito-specific insecticides. Ae. aegypti is a strain of mosquito that lives in the tropics worldwide and spreads dengue fever, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Millions of people become infected with these diseases annually. In order to reproduce, female mosquitoes require blood meals to obtain the nutrients necessary for ovarian development. It is through their second blood meal from a different host that these diseases are transmitted. Although a blood meal is the event that causes disease transmission, the blood meal digestion process is not clearly understood.

I presented a poster titled "Regulation and Function of Midgut Protease Genes in Aedes Aegypti Mosquitoes." In order to identify transcription factors that might be required for expression of midgut protease genes in response to blood feeding, we selected candidate RNAi knock-down targets in the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) kinase and phosphoinositol-3 kinase (PI-3K) signaling pathways. Injections of dsRNA into newly eclosed Ae. aegypti females was used to decrease the expression of TOR, as well as three transcription factors, FoxK1, FoxN1, and YY1. Relative transcript abundance was monitored by QRT-PCR to quantify knock down and its effects on downstream proteases. Better understanding of blood meal digestion in Ae. aegypti could lead to the development of novel strategies for vector control.

Throughout the conference, I attended lectures on different areas of vector biology. My favorite presentation was on the development and clinical trials of dengue vaccines in Indonesia. In countries with high rates of vector-borne disease, scientists desperately apply experimental vaccines and treatments to large numbers of people. Observing the humanitarian aspect of vector biochemistry reminded me how critically the research of scientists such my mentor, Dr. Roger Miesfeld, is needed. 

It was a privilege to interact with premier researchers and receive feedback regarding future directions for my project. The conference demonstrated the vital role of collaboration in order to pursue innovative ideas and directions in research. In my future career as a doctor, I will remember the importance of networking with my peers in order to develop new methods of disease detection and improve patient care.

This was a priceless opportunity that helped me improve my speaking skills, define my career goals, and realize the extent of my interest in the vector biology field. This was my first trip to New Orleans, and it would not have been possible without the support of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Honors Alumni Legacy Grant. 

Brianna Kolody, UBRPer in Dr. Roger Miesfeld's lab, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics