

Congrats Helle, MS!
Congratulations to Helle who successfully defended her MS thesis! Bravo Helle! We are so happy to have you stay in the lab as a PhD student!


New paper on Culex thermal biology now out in JME
Excited to share our newest paper on mosquito thermal biology resulting from a great collaboration between Megan Fritz's lab at the University of Maryland, Clément Vinauger and and our lab at Virginia Tech! In this study, we investigated how larval thermotolerance varies among populations of the Culex pipiens Assemblage across the United States, providing new insights into how mosquitoes may respond to changing climates. I'm especially proud that this is Helle Aronson's first


The lab receives an NIH R21 grant!
We are excited to announce that the lab has received a NIH R21 grant with Dr. Nisha Duggal (VT Vet. Med.) and Dr. Dana Hawley (VT Biol. Sciences)! We will be studying the Impacts of coinfection in WNV transmission in songbirds. We are grateful to the reviewers on the panel as well as to the PO for allowing us to embark on this exciting project. We are looking forward to keeping working with the Duggal lab and Hawley lab! Project abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic f


EEID 2026!
While I was visiting the Institut Pasteur in Paris, the lab was well represented at EEID 2026 that we organized at Virginia Tech! Ben Bruncati from Michael Robert's lab presented their work on "Incorporating Thermal Performance Curves into Population Dynamic Models for the West Nile Vector, Culex Pipiens". Gavyn Sanford, MS student from the lab co-mentored with Gillian Eastwood, presented a poster on "Mosquito Diversity, Host-Feeding Patterns, and Arbovirus Surveillance in We
New preprint out!
As Europe experiences another intense heat wave, understanding how mosquitoes respond and adapt to thermal stress and heat exposure is becoming increasingly important. I am excited to share this new preprint, the result of a fantastic collaboration led by Mariangela Bonizzoni's lab! A huge thank you to all collaborators and co-authors who contributed to this work and a special shout out to Helle Aronson from the lab for her outstanding contribution to this project! ➡️ In this


The lab receives a RIVOC grant to establish a new collaboration with french institutions.
The lab was awarded a RIVOC “Projets Innovants 2026” grant to establish a new collaboration with researchers from french institutions. Our project "VECTGECO" entitled "Revégétalisation, interactions trophiques du moustique tigre et risque vectoriel : une approche innovante de xenomonitoring moléculaire" will assess the effects of vegetation surrounding schools on mosquito population and vectorial risk. Led by Thierry Lefèvre (MIVEGEC, IRD, Montpellier), this work will be done


Gavyn received a 2026 CeZAP ID-IGEP Graduate Student Mini-Grant!
Congrats to Gavyn who received a 2026 CeZAP ID-IGEP Graduate Student Mini-Grant to support his research this Summer! Well done, Gavyn!


James receives an ESA Policy Fellowship!
As a part of the Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award from the Ecological Society of America, James travelled to Washington, D.C. to speak with lawmakers about the importance of funding science in this country. Together with other graduate students, he urged them to fully fund the National Science Foundation in the upcoming 2027 FY budget. As a part of the award, James participated in an intensive science policy workshop led by researchers from the AAAS, Congre


New paper out in the Journal of Medical Entomology
We are excited to share our newest work on mosquito sugar feeding now published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. This paper entitled "Effect of landscape heterogeneity on mosquito abundance and sugar feeding behavior" was led by MS student Morgen VanderGiessen, MS then PhD student Forde Upshur, MS student Mariana Castadena-Guzman, collaborators Luis Escobar and Clément Vinauger. Abstract: Mosquito-borne diseases pose a dire threat to humanity, claiming over 700,000 lives


Shanni receives a GCC URG grant to support her work on kissing bugs!
Congratulations to Shanni who have both received a Global Change Center Undergraduate Research grant to support her work on kissing bugs this year! Well done Shanni!


The lab receives a CeZAP grant to support work on invasive Aedes mosquitoes!
We are excited to announce that the lab has rece ived a 2025 Interdisciplinary Team-Building Pilot Grant from CeZAP to work on invasive Aedes mosquitoes with Dr. Michael Robert from the Department of Mathematics at Virginia Tech. We are grateful to CeZAP for supporting this project entitled: Impact of Temperature on Aedes albopictus Distribution and Pathogen Transmission Dynamics: A Modeling and Experimental Approach !


Lab Hike to the Cascades
We had a good time hiking to the beautiful Cascades in Pembroke with the Vinauger lab today! Thanks all! Missing several undergrads who...


Welcome Iris and Ray!
We are excited to welcome Iris Schmeder (University of Texas) and Ray Kennedy (LeHigh University) to our NSF REU program at Mountain Lake...


Congrats Graduates!
Huge congrats to Gia , Katelyn and Helle for graduating this semester! Well done!!! Gia is moving to NC to attend grad school while...


Our students showcase their work at the IGC GCC and Dennis Dean symposia!
James (top picture) recently presented his work on mosquito plant inetractions at the IGC GCC symposium . Helle , Katelyn and Gavyn ...





















