Research Overview
I am a Research Assistant Scientist for the Applied Mosquito Research Program at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory. The goal of my research program is to evaluate the efficiency of mosquito and arbovirus surveillance through field sampling, data analyses using ecological statistics, and virus detection from field-collected specimens. During my Ph.D. I received extensive training in the fields of mosquito collection and arbovirus detection and quantification (e.g., qPCR, plaque assay), which I used to develop optimized mosquito and arbovirus surveillance schemes.
Comprehensive and robust surveillance programs are required to monitor mosquito and arbovirus distributions in time and space. Surveillance data is utilized by mosquito control and public health agencies to identify arbovirus transmission foci and justify when and where pesticide applications are necessary. Selecting the right surveillance tools is an essential step as trap bias can produce inaccurate estimates of mosquito and arbovirus abundance and diversity.
Utilizing sampling methodologies that preferentially collect gravid and blood-engorged mosquitoes improves the likelihood of detecting virus-positive mosquitoes. Mosquito pool testing is a cost-effective method of arbovirus surveillance and provides mosquito control and public health agencies with species-specific information sets that can be used to inform mosquito management programs. By comparing mosquito infection rates across different trap types and vertical strata, my program deliverables provide valuable information regarding trap bias, gaps in surveillance efforts, while improving our knowledge of horizontal and vertical distributions of vector abundance and arbovirus prevalence. These data can be used to develop enhanced surveillance and control programs, reduce the financial and labor burden of mosquito control agencies, and improve our ability to identify arboviral foci.
