Did you know that mosquitoes are super smart?

Feb. 29, 2020
An interactive session led by Dr. Chloé Lahondére

Dr. Chloé Lahondère is a biologist interested in blood-sucking insects' thermal biology, physiology and neuro-ethology. She works on mosquitoes, kissing bugs and tsetse flies. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tours (France) and pursued a PhD at the same university under the supervision of Prof. Claudio Lazzari. She then moved to Seattle to join the lab of Prof. Jeff Riffell as a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington. Dr. Lahondère joined the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry at Virginia Tech as a Research Assistant Professor in October 2017. She is also affiliated with the BIOTRANS program, the Global Change Center and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute.

You probably know that blood-sucking mosquitoes can transmit several diseases to animals and humans. These insects are considered the deadliest animal on earth! Unfortunately, vaccines and treatments are not always available to treat some of these diseases and it is thus important to better understand how mosquitoes find their next host to develop new tools for controlling their populations and thus limit disease transmission. 

But… Did you know that mosquitoes can pollinate certain flowers? Did you know that mosquitoes can learn and remember things? Did you know that some species preferentially bite cold blooded animals such as frogs and snakes?

In this talk, I will show you how smart mosquitoes can be and what we do in my lab to help better understand their biology, physiology and ecology. 

Feb. 29, 2020 - Hands-On Exhibits

TBA