ONLINE: Wednesday Nite at the Lab

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Jena Johnson

Kerri Coon is an assistant professor in the UW-Madison Department of Bacteriology.

Update from Tom Zinnen, Wednesday Nite at the Lab coordinator: This lecture is rescheduled for March 10.

If there is ever a time we in Wisconsin can consider the possibility of a "friendly mosquito," it is certainly January. At the next Wednesday Nite at the Lab webcast via Zoom, UW Department of Bacteriology assistant professor Kerri Coon presents the lecture "Why Mosquitoes Love YOU (and Other Things You Never Knew about Skeeters & Their Microbiome." Learn how what researchers are finding in a mosquito's gut can help develop strategies to contain the pests, and also teach us about the effect of microbes on other common insects. RSVP here if you haven't joined a previous WNTL this school year; lectures are also posted after taking place on YouTube.

press release: The registration link will be the same through the end of May 2021. Presentations and Q&A will be posted later on the WN@TL YouTube site.

On January 6 we will have an epiphany about microbiology & mosquitoes.  Kerri Coon of bacteriology will be here to talk about “Why Mosquitoes Love YOU (and Other Things You Never Knew about Skeeters & Their Microbiome).”    

Description:  Microbes are everywhere…and so are mosquitoes. Our lab has found interesting links between the communities of microbes present in the guts of mosquitoes and the environments in which they live (i.e. the ‘mosquito microbiome’) and the ability of mosquitoes to grow, reproduce, and blood feed. These findings not only have important implications for the development of novel strategies to control mosquitoes and the pathogens they transmit, but also for our understanding of how microbes have shaped the evolution of other, closely related insects of ecological, medical, and agricultural concern. Join us to find out more about the biology of these notorious pests, and to learn about a friendly mosquito native to Wisconsin!

Bio:  Kerri Coon is an assistant professor in the Department of Bacteriology. Kerri received her doctoral degree from the lab of Dr. Michael Strand at the University of Georgia, where she studied the microbial regulation of molting in mosquitoes. She subsequently worked on insect microbiome-immune system interactions in Dr. Nancy Moran’s lab at the University of Texas at Austin before starting her position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. Research in Kerri’s lab focuses on understanding the diversity and function of gut microbes in mosquitoes and other insect disease vectors.