TRAINING GRANTS
2021-2022 TRAINING GRANT RECIPIENTS
TRAINEES
"Prevalence of two emerging Rickettsia species (Rickettsia species phylotype G022 and Rickettsia tillamookensis) in nymphal Ixodes pacificus in Northern California"
Erin Trent, BS
Erin Trent is a graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt. She has a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences, systems physiology from San Jose State University. Trent became interested in tick research after her sister was diagnosed with Lyme disease, as well as Babesia and Bartonella coinfections. In the time she’s been in graduate school working in Dr. Zhong’s lab, she has gained a deeper interest in ticks and their pathogens. Trent plans to pursue a career in public health to continue expanding her knowledge of tick-borne diseases and help identify high-risk areas.
Jianmin Zhong is a professor of Microbiology and Cellular and Molecular Biology at Cal Poly Humboldt. The Zhong lab has been studying rickettsial pathogens and symbionts in tick vectors of human and animal diseases. Currently, they are working with CDC and CDPH to conduct a large-scale survey to estimate the prevalence of two novel Rickettsia species in nymphal ticks of Ixodes pacificus. The overall research goal in Zhong’s Lab is to study ecology of tick-borne rickettsial pathogens, tick-borne rickettsial diseases and biological tick control in California.
"Inhibition of the pentose phosphate pathway to disable metabolic mechanisms of insecticide resistance: Evaluation of a potential pyrethroid synergist"
Erin "Taylor" Kelly, BS
Erin “Taylor” Kelly is a PhD student in vector biology, interested in vector metabolism, reproduction, and mechanisms of insecticide resistance. Kelly completed her Bachelor of Science in biology and minor in chemistry at Santa Clara University. Kelly’s long-term goal is to either pursue work as a professor with an appointment that combines teaching and research or work as a vector control biologist at the state or county level.
- Evidence of local extinction and reintroduction of Aedes aegypti in Exeter California
- Corrigendum: Zika virus infection results in biochemical changes associated with RNA editing, inflammatory and antiviral responses in Aedes albopictus
- Frequency of sodium channel genotypes and association with pyrethrum knockdown time in populations of Californian Aedes aegypti
Geoffrey Attardo, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis
Geoffrey Attardo is an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the UC Davis. He specializes in medical entomology, reproductive physiology, molecular biology and genetics.The Attardo lab centers around the reproductive biology of insect vectors of human disease. The primary subjects of his work have been mosquitoes and tsetse flies. Attardo has studied how female mosquitoes regulate gene expression in response to blood feeding. He also studies the reproductive biology of tsetse flies, unique insects that lactate and give birth to live young. This work covers multiple areas of reproduction in tsetse including nutrition; analysis of genes associated with reproduction; the role symbiotic bacteria play in tsetse reproduction; and the interactions between insect vectors and the parasites they vector.
"Habitat connectivity and transmission dynamics of tick-borne diseases"
Grace Shaw, BS
Grace Shaw is currently pursuing a master’s degree in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology at San Francisco State University. Shaw earned her Bachelor of Science in biology from Lewis & Clark College, before going on to work for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy where she managed the Mission blue butterfly translocation project. Working in the Swei lab, Shaw is interested in the link between anthropogenic pressures and newly emerging diseases. After completing her Master’s, Grace plans to work for a government agency in disease ecology, vector control, or natural resource management.
Andrea Swei, PhD
Associate Professor, San Francisco State University
Andrea Swei is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at the San Francisco State University. Research in the Swei lab employs interdisciplinary approaches to understand the factors that determine the distribution and prevalence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases. Swei’s research focuses on several different tick-borne disease systems such as Lyme disease, babesiosis, and Borrelia miyamotoi and employ ecological theory to examine the role of disturbance, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity on tick-borne disease ecology and public health risk.
"Quantifying tick-borne disease risk across a spatiotemporal gradient in California"
Samantha Sambado, MA
Samantha Sambado is currently pursuing an ecology, evolution, and marine biology PhD at UC Santa Barbara with Dr. Cherie Briggs and Dr. Andy MacDonald to better understand how vector-borne diseases spread using empirical and theoretical frameworks. She is also a Master of Arts student in statistics with emphasis on data science. She hopes to stay connected with other PacVec researchers to continue collaboration on vector-borne disease projects and exchange ideas of how to make basic science applicable to public health.
Cherie Briggs’ research combines modeling and experiments to understand the factors affecting the dynamics of animal populations. Her lab is working on a number of projects involving disease-host or parasitoid-host interactions, including frog-killing chytrid fungus and the distribution of Lyme disease in California.
"Investigating climate adaptation for improved Aedes sierrensis control"
Lisa Couper, MS
Lisa Couper is a PhD student in biology at Stanford University interested in the impacts of global change on vector-borne disease dynamics. She completed her master’s degree in microbiology at San Francisco State University in 2018 and her bachelor’s degree in environmental science at the University of North Carolina in 2014. Currently, Couper is using experimental and genomic approaches to investigate mosquito adaptations to climate warming. Moving forward, Couper intends to pursue a career in academic ecological research and establish a research program that is strongly aligned with applied vector management needs.
Erin Mordecai is an ecologist who studies the dynamics of infectious diseases within ecological communities, including humans. Her work seeks to find generality amidst this complexity by identifying nonlinear responses and incorporating them into data-driven models of infectious disease systems. This work is particularly important for understanding, predicting, and mitigating the effects of accelerating global change on infectious disease. Active areas of research include: (1) the ecological role of disease in regulating species interactions; (2) impacts of climate on disease dynamics; (3) impacts of land use change on disease transmission; (4) drivers of epidemic dynamics and control. Her long-term goal is to understand the dynamics of ecological systems and their influence on diseases in humans, plants, and animals, ultimately aiming to inform policy that benefits both human and ecosystem health.
"Comparative genomics of Aedes albopictus in the Pacific Islands for developing arbovirus vector dispersal models"
Christine Anne Tabuloc, BS
Christine Anne Tabuloc is a current PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis. Part of her current thesis research focuses on characterizing the role of BRHAMA (BRM), a chromatin remodeling complex, in establishing a dynamic chromatin landscape to enable rhythmic gene expression. Thus far, Tabuloc found that two core clock proteins, CLOCK and TIMELESS, regulate rhythmic BRM binding to the promoter of period, another core clock gene. Working in Dr. Chiu’s lab has helped her realize how much she enjoys mentoring, teaching, and conducting research. After completing her PhD, Tabuloc would like to pursue a career in teaching at a primarily undergraduate research university.
Adam Vorsino, PhD
Adam Vorsino is an ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Honolulu, Hawaii. Vorsino is dually charged with both developing tools and informing conservation managers of the most appropriate methodological and scientifically valid path forward. Vorsino is currently assisting with the development and advancement of the next generation of conservation tools to manage and solve some of the region’s most intractable conservation issues.
Joanna Chiu, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair, University of California, Davis
Joanna Chiu is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the UC Davis. The Clock lab leverages genomics and molecular genetics approaches to understand the molecular and neuronal mechanisms underlying animal physiology and behavior. The Clock lab also works with relevant stakeholders to develop new strategies for managing insect pests and contribute to long-term global food security and public health.
"Population phylogenomics of the West Nile virus vector: Culex quinquefasciatus in the southwestern United States"
Zachary Barrand, BS
Zachary Barrand is a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University. He graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with a research emphasis in the phylogenetic diversity of tick-borne co-infections throughout the United States. Barrand’s research interests focus on the vector genetic and microbiome influences on the maintenance, evolution, and transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases between reservoir, wildlife, and human hosts. Barrand plans to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship following completion of his PhD to establish a career as a vector-borne infectious disease researcher in academia.
Crystal Hepp is an associate professor in the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of the Translational Genomics Research Institute. Hepp has a background in evolutionary biology and genomics, and her lab focuses heavily on using environmental surveillance of pathogens, especially viruses, to understand their spread over time and space.
"Virus testing of Aedes aegypti pools for dengue surveillance"
Joshua Arnbrister, BS
Joshua Arnbrister is currently pursuing a Master of Science in entomology at the University of Arizona and he plans to continue in a PhD program. After completing his PhD, he hopes to pursue a career in vector control and surveillance.
Kathleen Walker is an associate professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Arizona and an associate specialist directing the Insect Discovery Outreach Program, providing a variety of resources to help teachers make the most of their students' fascination with the amazing world of insects. The Walker lab studies the ecology of arthropod vectors that inhabit the peri-domestic environment, focusing on the influence of climate and human behavior on vectorial capacity. The Walker lab has focused on Aedes aegypti on the U.S./Mexico border, investigating the interactions between climates, mosquito longevity and dengue transmission. They are now broadening their focus to examine the ecology of Rhipicephalus sanguineus, the brown dog tick, and factors driving regional rickettsia outbreaks.
"Flea-borne typhus in California: socioeconomic associations and mathematical transmission model"
Kyle Yomogida, BS
Kyle Yomogida is a PhD student in the Graduate Group of Epidemiology at UC Davis. He graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 2017 with a degree in health science – community health education. His experiences in public health include health behavior research projects regarding prescription stimulant misuse and two years of work for Long Beach Communicable Disease Control Program in southern California. His interests include infectious and zoonotic diseases with his PhD work, specifically focused on socioeconomic and environmental factors related to human flea-borne typhus incidences in southern California.
Beatriz Martinez-Lopez is a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the Department of Medicine & Epidemiology, Veterinary School, UC Davis and director of the Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance. Her research focuses on the development and implementation of quantitative methods such as epidemiological modeling, risk assessment, geostatistical methods or network analysis to unravel complex epidemiological problems at the wild-domestic-human interface. Current research includes epidemiology and transmission dynamics of diseases such as African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, Aujeszky´s disease, African horse sickness, bluetongue, avian influenza, West Nile, Rift Valley Fever, bovine tuberculosis or porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.
TRAINING
Our center offers training that is intended to provide career development opportunities for individuals interested in public-health-relevant research on vector-borne diseases and to enable additional research and training opportunities that will be sought from other sponsors.
The Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases is supported through Cooperative Agreement Number 1U01CK000649 between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of California, Davis.
© 2023 – All rights reserved