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Reposted by Becky Johnson

Nature Communications @natcomms.nature.com · 5d

Implications of successive blood feeding on #dengue virus inhibition by Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

@entomososwin.bsky.social @mallerybreban.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social @chantalvogels.bsky.social @yaleemd.bsky.social

Implications of successive blood feeding on Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus inhibition in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes - Nature Communications

Dengue virus transmission by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes poses a significant public health threat, necessitating innovative control strategies. Here, the authors demonstrate that, while successive blood feeding increases earlier dengue virus dissemination, the inhibitory effects of Wolbachia remain strong, highlighting Wolbachia’s potential to disrupt dengue transmission under natural feeding conditions.

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 7d

Jane Goodall was my first childhood hero, as I loved animals as a kid and was inspired by her story. I still remember the National Geographic specials about her. RIP.

Jane Goodall reaches out and touches a small monkey.

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 7d

Some of you may remember my rant about getting surprise charged $653 for a medically necessary ultrasound to screen for the cancer that killed my mother.

Well, I wrote about it, and now my bad experience has been made into a cartoon for The Out of Network Network!

open.substack.com/pub/outofnet...

Paying $653 to See if I Had the Disease That Killed My Mother

Written by Mara Wilson / Illustrated by Emily Flake

open.substack.com

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Aug 19

So great to finally have this out!!

Jason Rasgon @vectorgen.bsky.social · Aug 19

Very happy to have @entomososwin.bsky.social's thesis work finally published! Becky has been having an incredible month!

parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Expression of endogenous Anopheles gambiae microRNAs using an Anopheles gambiae densovirus (AgDNV) intronic expression system - Parasites & Vectors

Background Anopheles gambiae densovirus (AgDNV) is a highly species-specific parvovirus that reaches high titers in adult Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes with few transcriptomic effects and minimal signi...

parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Aug 5

Today I found out that my NIH NIAID K99 looking at mosquito basement membrane repair processes was funded!!! Thank you to my mentor @brackneylab.bsky.social, my co-mentor Andrea Page-McCaw, my colleagues & letter writers, the outstanding people at NIH, and everyone else who has been so supportive!!

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

Entomological Society of America @entsocamerica.bsky.social · Aug 4

NEWS: The @entsocamerica.bsky.social Governing Board has elected nine new Fellows of the Society for 2025: Joanna Chiu, Laura Harrington, John Heraty, Margaret Mayfield, Bob Peterson, Paula Shrewsbury, Andrew Suarez, Michael Ulyshen, and Jessica Ware. MORE: entsoc.org/news/press-r...

A collage of nine headshots featuring five women and four men of varying ages, all smiling or with neutral expressions, with a variety of backgrounds including outdoor scenes and plain backdrops.

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 31

Hi! I'm originally from Maine but currently a senior postdoc at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. I study mosquito biology and how this impacts virus transmission. Recently a lot of my work has been looking at how virus moves through the mosquito body and overcomes various barriers.

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

Chantal Vogels @chantalvogels.bsky.social · Jul 30

Our first Wolbachia paper now published in Nature Communications! 🦟 Check out Becky's thread! 👇

Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

So glad to finally have this out with co-author @mallerybreban.bsky.social and very thankful for the many amazing people who contributed to this study and provided materials and input! 🦟🦠1/12 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Implications of successive blood feeding on Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus inhibition in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes - Nature Communications

Dengue virus transmission by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes poses a significant public health threat, necessitating innovative control strategies. Here, the authors demonstrate that, while successive blood fe...

www.nature.com

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

I hope that future studies will examine the impact of more frequent feeding on Wolbachia-based pathogen-blocking in other Wolbachia-mosquito combinations and that this helps inform future control and modeling efforts. Thanks for following and check out the paper for more details! 12/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

This may have implications for Wolbachia-transinfected mosquito release programs and could indicate that Wolbachia has a greater impact than current model predictions that only account for single blood feedings. 11/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

While this work was largely done using certain strains of wAlbB and Aedes aegypti and may not hold true for all Wolbachia-mosquito combinations, this study indicates that Wolbachia-based pathogen-blocking using wAlbB is robust under more frequent feeding conditions. 10/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

This trend held true for double-fed WT and wAlbB mosquitoes but further modeling showed that single-fed and double-fed wAlbB mosquitoes had a lower chance of surviving past the EIP relative to WT counterparts. 9/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

The increase in speed of dissemination with a second blood meal also led to a decrease in extrinsic incubation period (EIP) and a greater probability of surviving to transmit virus. 8/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

Further, DENV-2 titers were higher in double-fed WT and wAlbB mosquitoes but this was not linked to Wolbachia density and appeared to be connected to dissemination status. 7/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

This trend of earlier DENV-2 midgut escape held true for WT mosquitoes and those with wAlbB Wolbachia. Numbers of wMelM mosquitoes were too low to make any firm conclusions here. 6/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

We also found that DENV-2 escapes the mosquito midgut faster when mosquitoes are given a second blood meal. This more closely matches mosquito feeding patterns in the wild where mosquitoes attempt to refeed shortly after egg laying. 5/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

As expected, we found that both wAlbB and wMelM Wolbachia strains reduced DENV-2 infection in Aedes aegypti with wMelM providing more protection against initial midgut infection. 4/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

This study provides new insights into Wolbachia-based pathogen-blocking under more frequent mosquito blood feeding. Let's do a quick summary thread but check out the paper for more details! 3/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

These include Braiya Nolan, Afeez Sodeinde, @isabelott.bsky.social, @perran.bsky.social, Xinyue Gu, @nathangrubaugh.bsky.social, Alex Perkins, @brackneylab.bsky.social, and @chantalvogels.bsky.social 2/12

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 30

So glad to finally have this out with co-author @mallerybreban.bsky.social and very thankful for the many amazing people who contributed to this study and provided materials and input! 🦟🦠1/12 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Implications of successive blood feeding on Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus inhibition in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes - Nature Communications

Dengue virus transmission by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes poses a significant public health threat, necessitating innovative control strategies. Here, the authors demonstrate that, while successive blood fe...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · Jul 30

Likewise thrilled to have been able to contribute to an amazing team effort on this! 🦟

Perran Ross @perran.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thrilled to be a part of this study on Wolbachia and multiple blood feeding. Now published!

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Implications of successive blood feeding on Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus inhibition in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Nature Communications - Dengue virus transmission by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes poses a significant public health threat, necessitating innovative control strategies. Here, the authors demonstrate...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

Perran Ross @perran.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thrilled to be a part of this study on Wolbachia and multiple blood feeding. Now published!

rdcu.be/eyqaG

Implications of successive blood feeding on Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus inhibition in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Nature Communications - Dengue virus transmission by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes poses a significant public health threat, necessitating innovative control strategies. Here, the authors demonstrate...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

The Global Vector Hub @globalvectorhub.bsky.social · Jul 3

🦟" #Mosquito #immune cells enhance #dengue and #Zika virus infection in #Aedes aegypti" by David R. Hall, @entomososwin.bsky.social, @brackneylab.bsky.social, @vectorimmunity.bsky.social et al. in @natcomms.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti - Nature Communications

Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus transmission and highlights conser...

www.nature.com

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Becky Johnson @entomososwin.bsky.social · Jul 3

This was such a fun study with great collaborators! Glad to have it finally out. 🎉 We found that hemocytes actually help viruses disseminate to new organs within the mosquito.

Ryan Smith @vectorimmunity.bsky.social · Jul 3

Excited to share our latest collaborative work with @entomososwin.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social looking at the role of mosquito immune cells in virus infection. It turns out that these cells help disseminate virus infection, increasing the potential for virus transmission rdcu.be/euiZt

Mosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti

Nature Communications - Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Becky Johnson

brackneylab @brackneylab.bsky.social · Jul 1

Despite all the shit going on, we have to celebrate our victories. New publication with @entomososwin.bsky.social and @vectorimmunity.bsky.social showing that hemocytes play a central role in disseminating flaviviruses to secondary tissues potentially functioning as a Trojan Horse(TBD)
rdcu.be/euj4g

Mosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti

Nature Communications - Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus...

rdcu.be

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