Vega-Rodriguez Research Group

Dr. Joel Vega-Rodriguez received his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 2008 at the Rio Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. In 2009, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, where he did his postdoctoral training and later became a research associate. In 2018, Dr. Vega-Rodriguez became a Stadtman tenure-track investigator in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research.

Thiago is a Staff Scientist in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research. His research focuses on vector-borne diseases and host-pathogen interactions. He has worked for more than 10 years on the interaction of the malaria parasite with mosquitoes at different stages of parasite development. He combines cutting-edge technologies such as confocal microscopy, multi-omic approaches, and reverse...

Dr. Emily Bencosme-Cuevas is passionate about vector-borne diseases, vector-host-pathogen interactions, and vaccine research and development. She began her research by studying the immune system of the Lone Star tick and continued during her Ph.D., focusing on the black-legged tick and the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi. After years of contributing to the tick research community, she...

Rohit is working closely with his Molecular Parasitology and Entomology Unit colleague, Dr. Thiago Luiz Alves e Silva, to study interactions of the malaria parasite with proteins from the mosquito hemolymph and the role of these interactions during parasite transmission.

He earned an integrated Master of Science in biological sciences from BITS Pilani University, India in 2024 and pursued his...

Since her B.Sc., Dr. Francis M. de Souza Saraiva has developed projects about vector-borne diseases and the role of blood byproducts on the parasite-vector interaction. In 2022, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Joel Vega-Rodriguez in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research as a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, where she is investigating the role of blood byproducts on the malaria parasite...

My research interests focus on understanding vector-pathogen interactions and developing therapeutics to combat these pathogens within their vectors. In the Vega-Rodriguez lab, my project involves identifying, characterizing, and developing mosquito salivary proteins, particularly apyrase, with the goal of creating a malaria transmission-blocking vaccine or prophylactic.

Portion is currently in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, working as a Mosquito Specialist. In this position she is culturing the gametocycte stage of Plasmodium falciparum for several different assays and development to further the understanding of how the mosquito vector transmits the malaria parasite and to explore novel interventions and therapeutics to prevent transmission of the...

My research focuses on implementing various conditional knockdown/knockout systems to study essential genes in the mosquito midgut stage of Plasmodium falciparum.