YIGH Faculty Networks Host Third Annual Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Symposium

On Friday, February 21st, two YIGH Faculty Networks – the Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases and MalarYale – hosted the third annual Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Symposium. The event was sponsored by the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases (EMD) at the Yale School of Public Health and the Ambrose-Monell Foundation. The initiative was led by Brian Weiss, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist in Epidemiology and Lecturer (Microbial Diseases), Chantal Vogels, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases), and Serap Aksoy, Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases).

Faculty, post-doctoral scientists, and doctoral students presented their research at several talks throughout the day. Topics ranged from genomics and the evolution of pathogens and vectors to the application of innovative technologies and public health interventions to address vector-borne diseases around the world. The Symposium included 22 presentations across four sessions and featured three keynote speakers.

Dr. Photini Sinnis, MD, Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health delivered the first keynote lecture. Dr. Sinnis researches the life cycle of Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria. Her lab focuses on the sporozoite stage, which is when the parasite is infectious to human hosts. The topic of her lecture was “When is an Infected Mosquito an Infectious Mosquito?”

Albert Ko, MD, Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases), presented a lecture on controlling arboviral diseases through Wolbachia interventions. Wolbachia are bacteria that naturally infect arthropods, including some mosquitoes. There is ongoing research at the Yale School of Public Health that focuses on developing innovative strategies that employ Wolbachia to control the spread of mosquito-borne human diseases by reducing the vector population in a target area and/or preventing viruses from replicating in the vectors. The keynote touched on the importance of making these interventions effective, scalable, and sustainable.

The final keynote speaker was Jeff Powell, Ph.D., Research Professor and Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His lecture focused on Aedes aegypti, the species of mosquito that can spread several viruses that infect humans, including the dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika viruses.

Click here to learn more about the YIGH Faculty Network Program or contact Jeremy Schwartz, Director of the YIGH Faculty Network Program.