Saturday, September 13, 2025 9/13/2025

Identification of mosquito brain neurons that drive blood-feeding behavior

Award Number: DP2AI177891
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/11/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2028

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Identification of mosquito brain neurons that drive blood-feeding behavior - PROJECT SUMMARY Mosquitoes transmit numerous pathogens to humans by virtue of their ability to locate and bite vertebrates. Current strategies to prevent these diseases face various limitations and new approaches are needed. One possibility would be to inhibit the neurons in the mosquito brain that direct the behavior of attraction to humans and feeding on blood, but such neurons have not been identified because the tools and knowledge to do so do not exist. This proposal describes my plan to use genetic and sequencing-based approaches to identify the neurons that are required for blood-feeding behavior. I will take advantage of the fact that mosquitoes require multiple human-derived cues, particularly heat and CO2, to engorge on blood. Using gene expression changes in single cells, I will identify neurons that show altered responses specifically in the presence of both stimuli. To enable the genetic targeting of specific cell types of interest, we will create an atlas of enhancer elements that are specific to each cell type in the mosquito brain, using paired single cell RNA and ATAC-seq data. Finally, we will target key neurons for blood feeding using an enhancer driver constructs and combine them with genetic effectors to test whether the neurons are necessary and sufficient for blood feeding behavior. This proposal combines my expertise in computational genomics, transgenic mosquitoes, and behavior to achieve the goal of identifying neurons at a key node in the neural circuits for blood feeding. The identification of these neurons that drive blood feeding would be useful for understanding how they are activated and thus allow the design of more attractive mosquito traps. These neurons, if inactivated, would prevent mosquitoes from biting humans so they also could serve as a potential target to disrupt the spread of mosquito borne illness.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $482,250 )
2025	2025	YALE UNIV	150 MUNSON ST	NEW HAVEN	CT	06511	SOUTH CENTRAL CT	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	3	8/13/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$482,250
														Subtotal = $482,250

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $435,000 )
2024	2024	YALE UNIV	150 MUNSON ST	NEW HAVEN	CT	06511	SOUTH CENTRAL CT	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	2	7/12/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$435,000
														Subtotal = $435,000

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $502,500 )
2023	2023	YALE UNIVERSITY	105 WALL ST	NEW HAVEN	CT	06511	SOUTH CENTRAL CT	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	1	8/11/2023	NEW	$502,500
														Subtotal = $502,500

Grand Total All Awards = $1,419,750

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Identification of mosquito brain neurons that drive blood-feeding behavior

Award Number: DP2AI177891

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/11/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2028

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