Members directory

I have been working on onchocerciasis for 18 years, focusing on the Onchocerca ochengi bovine system as an analogue of the human disease. My research spans vaccine, drug and diagnostics development for onchocerciasis using this bovine system, as well as basic questions about the evolution of filarial nematodes, their association with Wolbachia symbionts, and their capacity for immune evasion. 

I am interested in the  ecology  of blackflies (adults and immature stages) and their role as vectors of different parasites for human and birds.

Investigating the mechanisms of resistance to neonicotinoid insectciides in mosquito species. This involves in silico work looking at variant gene expression using Ag1000G project data, in vitro work looking at gene expression levels and in vivo work to assess phenotypic susceptibility to insecticides.

Diptera of medical and veterinary importance; insect anatomy and development; visualisation of Diptera metamorphosis; visualisation of host/parasite interfaces.

A molecular biology research scientist with interest is on utilising genomics in the control vector borne diseases mainly malaria and leishmaniasis

Biology of Culicoides spp & predatory midges

Vector ecology & host vector interaction of Culicoides spp.

Morphological and molecular characterization of Culicoides spp

Vectors of livestock pathogens, zoonoses, virus-vector interactions, vector surveillance, vector control

My research interests are focused on vector ecology and the role of ecology in understanding the epidemiology and epizootiology of pathogens. My research also spans laboratory based infection and vector competency studies.

CAREER UPDATE: I graduated last May with my PhD in entomology from the University of Florida. I did a postdoc at the CDC where I studied an invasive population of Aedes aegypti and also completed laboratory studies with West Nile virus and Oropouche virus. I have since started a full time research entomologist position with the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the Arthropod borne Animal Diseases Research Unit in Manhattan, KS. I continue to study Culicoides ecology in this capacity, with specific areas of interest including host associations, sugar feeding ecology, spatial ecology, and larval ecology. I am also interested in the ecology of Culicoides-borne diseases including epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus, bluetongue virus, and vesicular stomatitis virus. Through the vast breadth of ecological research we pursue, we hope to leverage our results to better understand not just the true breadth of vector species in North America but also management and control strategies that target specific ecological characteristics of vector midges.

Retired - more or less

Primarily mathematical modelling of vector and infection dynamics.
I am also interested in (laboratory based) behavioural studies with mosquitoes.

I work with Culicoides and vector mosquito species in the South Carolina area. My lab identifies vectors and pathogens from field collections. We also utilize RNAi to determine the molecular mechanisms behind blood-feeding and pathogen transmission in Culicoides sonorensis.  

Bioecology, control and taxonomy of Culicoides spp. and Phlebotominae

Molecular diagnostics, vector borne diseases in animal and its control, Stem cell biology, Cloning

Alternative email: drsushilmohapatra@gmail.com

Kala-azar or Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a parasitic disease which has been recorded in South-East Asia during early 1800’s. It seems to have blowout along the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers, the major transport routs of Bengal and Bangladesh. In this area, Kala-azar was first described in 1824 in the Jessore district where about 75,000 people died. An intensive control program aimed at the eradication of malaria was mounted in the late 1950s and early 1960s throughout the South Asian sub-continent with the main effort based on indoor residual spraying (IRS) of DDT. Kala-azar is mainly caused by Leishmania donovani, L. infantum, or L. chagasi, but occasionally these species may cause other forms of disease. The cutaneous form of the disease is caused by more than 15 species of Leishmania. Leishmaniasis is mainly transferred by the bite of infected female phlebotomine sandflies which can transmit the protozoa Leishmania. This sandflies act as the vector.

VL is now endemic in many Bangladeshi areas, with the Mymensingh district representing over 50% of the cases. There is substantial underreporting. In 2007, the estimated number of active cases was 136,500. However, less than 5,000 cases were reported that same year. The estimated incidence of VL, according to recent studies, is 15.6/1,000 person-years in Fulbaria and 27/10,000 population in Godagari and Rajshahi.

A survey, conducted in 2006-2007, showed that when seeking care outside the community, 52% of patients made use of the public sector, 13% used poorly trained private practitioners and 28% used local chemists in order to obtain treatment. The awareness of VL is very low. Generally, in communities, VL is seen as ‘any fever that cannot be cured by the local drug sellers’.

As sandflies play a significant role in spreading the dangerous VL disease in different parts of Bangladesh, so this alarming rate of occurring VL in Bangladesh lead me to fix the mind setup to work with sand flies.

Vectorial competence of sand flies for leishmaniasis and arboviruses

Visceral Leismaniasis

I just started a job as a sand fly collection techinician so I started do study sand flies txonomy. My carear was developed studying sand flies interaction with leishmania and bacteria, but now I need to improve my epidomiology and taxonomy skills on this insect. 

Phlebotomine Taxonomy; Barcoding, Epidemiology; Molecular Biology and natural infection; Blood meal.

Vector transmitted parasitic diseases, Veterinary Vaccine Production, Rational Use of Veterinary Drugs. currently investigating major tabanids transmitting Camel trypanosomiasis in Mudug Region, Somalia.

Insect surveillance and monitoring

Integrated pest management