Yale University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Project Title: Identification of Mosquito Brain Neurons that Drive Blood-Feeding Behavior
Award Year: 2023
Biography
Dr. Trevor Sorrells completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Francisco where he pioneered molecular and genomic approaches in non-model yeast species to understand how transcription regulatory networks evolve. As a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University, he discovered a persistent behavioral state in the mosquito Aedes aegypti that sustains their pursuit of humans over time. The Sorrells lab studies the neural circuits that control the ability of mosquitoes to bite humans and how blood-feeding behavior evolved in flies from their non-biting ancestors. These studies will result in new ways to prevent mosquito biting and the spread of disease.