I started my research career working on co-evolution between phage WO and endosymbiont bacteria Wolbachia at Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Then I got a fellowship supporting me to work on malaria vaccine project at Yale University. I did my postdoc working on host-microbe interactions at Harvard University and using advanced genetic and symbiotic technologies for mosquito control at University of California, San Diego. My lab current research continues to focus on animal-microbe interactions and genetic technologies for mosquito-borne diseases control.

My recent interest is to address how nutrition, pesticides, probiotics and other factors affect gut communities of jewel wasps over long-term evolutionary time. In addition, I also focus on the transmission mechanisms of microorganisms in jewel wasps from mother to offspring.

Gut bacteria contribute to a variety of functions to the insect host, including regulating host metabolism, protecting host from pathogenic bacterial invasion, and regulating reproduction, development, and foraging behavior. I am trying to study the interaction between microbiota and mosquitoes, which will help us to explore novel mosquito prevention and control mechanisms.

Mainly explore the interactions between host and microbiota, and develop new technologies using microbiome and genome editing for mosquito control. At the same time, I am also responsible for the administrative affairs of our lab.

Insecticides resistance has become widespread in mosquito, reducing pesticide efficacy and increasing financial expenditure. One pattern of pesticide resistance mechanisms is symbiont-mediated detoxification within insect pests. I aim to explore detoxification modulated by symbiotic associations between bacteria and mosquitoes, as well as the development of new strategy for mosquito control.

My recent research interests focus on the molecular interactions between mosquito hosts and gut microbiota. Genomics techniques such as genomics, metagenomics and metabolomics are mainly used to reveal the role played by gut microbiota in the growth and development of mosquitoes. Expect that new mutual mechanisms or theories will be discovered.

Qi-Qi Wang

Run-Biao Wu

My recent research mainly focuse on host–microbe interactions in parasitoid wasp and mosquito systems from a holobiont perspective, exploring how these interactions drive species divergence and maintain reproductive isolation.

Students

Ph.D.

Rong-Er Zheng