Laura B. Duvall, Ph.D.

Laura B. Duvall, Ph.D.

Research Interest

Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience: Non-human Models

Research Summary

Our goal is to use genetic, pharmacological, and behavioral techniques to understand how mosquitoes and ticks regulate innate behaviors like mating, blood feeding, and daily rhythms in their attraction to humans.

Research Interests

  • What neuropeptide pathways and circuits regulate the dramatic suppression of mosquito attraction to humans after blood feeding?
  • What are the neuropeptide pathways that control daily and seasonal biting rhythms?
  • What are the signaling mechanisms that inhibit re-mating and prevent interspecies mating in mosquitoes?

Jové V, Venkataraman K, Gabel TM, Duvall LB. (2020) Feeding and Quantifying Animal-Derived Blood and Artificial Meals in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes. J. Vis. Exp. (164), e61835. PMID: 33165316

Duvall LB. (2019) Mosquito host-seeking regulation: targets for behavioral control Trends in Parasitology. 35(9):704-714. PMID: 31326312

Duvall LB, Ramos-Espiritu L, Barsoum KE, Glickman JF, Vosshall LB. (2019) Small-Molecule Agonists of Ae. aegypti Neuropeptide Y Receptor Block Mosquito Biting. Cell. 176(4): 687-701. PMID: 30735632

Duvall LB, Basrur NS, Molina H, McMeniman CJ, Vosshall LB. (2017) A peptide signaling system that rapidly enforces paternity in the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Curr Biol. 27(23):3734-3742. PMID: 29174895