Leslie Vosshall wants to understand how environmental cues and internal physiology work together to guide complex animal behaviors. Vosshall and her team study this problem in mosquitoes and humans, applying approaches in neurobiology, behavior, genetics, and genomics. Vosshall’s team uses CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing tools to advance understanding of how the mosquitoes that spread dengue and yellow fever integrate sensory cues to hunt their human hosts. The team is also studying the rules that govern human olfaction, using data from the more than 3,000 normal subjects they have screened since 2002. This work has the potential to aid in the diagnosis of smell disorders.
The blood-dining insect’s neural circuitry for sniffing out its chosen prey is far more complicated and sophisticated than previously thought. HHMI Investigator Leslie B. Vosshall, PhD, will become Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, effective February 1, 2022. The female mosquito has an amazing ability to detect blood using her syringe-like “tongue.” Now scientists have identified the neurons that give her blood-seeking powers. The roundworm C. elegans is sensitive to DEET’s insect-repellent effects. The discovery opens up a new genetic toolbox that scientists can use to figure out how DEET works. HHMI researchers have built mosquitobrains.org, the first map of the female mosquito brain. The new resource may ultimately uncover the circuitry behind biting and other behaviors. HHMI scientists have discovered a command center in the brain that controls how much insects eat and how quickly they consume their food. HHMI scientists are among 84 newly elected members. HHMI researchers have tested the olfactory capacity of human volunteers and found that humans are capable of discriminating at least one trillion different odors. In one of the first successful attempts at genetically engineering mosquitoes, researchers have altered the way the insects respond to odors, including the smell of humans and the insect repellant DEET.