UW Science Now

Hear from UW students about their research on mosquito memories, magnetic particle movement, and how the flu virus evolves.

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Mosquitoes rely on cues like carbon dioxide, body heat, body odors, and visual stimuli to detect potential hosts, but what happens when a blood-meal goes wrong? Can they remember a bad experience and adjust their future choices? Other animals, from bees to rats, use past experiences to guide decision-making, but we still don’t fully understand how mosquitoes process and learn from host encounters.

Grace’s research investigates how these insects combine vision and smell during aversive learning, and if they choose to avoid stimuli associated with a negative experience later.

Grace Van Susteren is a Biology PhD candidate studying animal behavior and neuroscience. She investigates how mosquitoes navigate their sensory world and make decisions about who to bite, with implications for both basic sensory neuroscience and mosquito control.

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Ayça Ersoy is a PhD student in the Chemical Engineering department at UW. Her research focuses on understanding how magnetic particles move and assemble through modeling and simulation approaches.

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Why do we get a flu-shot recommendation every year? Philippa Steinberg studies the evolution of influenza viruses to inform the development of updated flu vaccines.

Presented by Town Hall Seattle and UW Engage.