Author Archives: lch27@cornell.edu

Congratulations to NEVBD MS program graduate Mervin Cuadera who recently published his work!

Cuadera MKQ, Mader EM, Greiner-Safi A and LC Harrington. 2023. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices influence tick bite prevention and control practices among residents of Long Island, New York. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, 102124. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X23000067

This survey  validated measures of anxiety and prevention behaviors regarding TBDs.  Highlights of the study include: respondents showed substantial misconceptions about Lyme disease infection and treatment; Long Island respondents had moderate knowledge regarding ticks; concern for tick-borne disease was positively associated with tick bite prevention practices; pet owners were more likely to practice tick prevention measures.

NEVBD/Cornell Entomology Alumna Erin Hassett published her thesis work online in BMC Public Health Today!

Integrating tick density and park visitor behaviors to assess the risk of tick exposure in urban parks on Staten Island, New York

I forgot to add this one to the list. Congratulations Kara!

Fikrig K, Peck S, Deckerman P, Dang S, St Fleur K, Goldsmith H, Qu S, Rosenthal H and LC Harrington. 2021. The effects of host availability and fitness on Aedes albopictus blood feeding patterns in New York. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 106(1), 320-331.

There have been quite a few new publications to report from the lab!  Congratulations to the following colleagues and trainees for 2021 – present contributions!

Burtis JC, Bickerton MW, Indelicato N, Poggi JD, Crans SC and LC Harrington. 2022. Effectiveness of a Buffalo Turbine and A1 Mist Sprayer for the Areawide Deployment of Larvicide for Mosquito Control in an Urban Residential Setting. Journal of Medical Entomology.

Danhui Wang, Jason Yang, Janam Pandya, John M. Clark, Laura Harrington, Courtney Murdock, Lili He. 2022. Quantitative age grading of mosquitoes using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Analytical Science Advances 3 (1-2), 47-53.

Garcia Castillo, S. S., Pritts, K. S., Krishnan, R. S., Harrington, L. C., and League, G. P. 2021. Harmonic convergence coordinates swarm mating by enhancing mate detection in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Scientific Reports 11 (1), 1-18.

Amaro A, Ahmed-Braimah YH, League GP, Pitcher S, Avila FW, Harrington LC* and MF Wolfner* 2021. Seminal fluid proteins induce transcriptome changes in the Aedes aegypti female lower reproductive tract, including up-regulation of immunity-related RNAs *Corresponding Authors. BMC Genomics 22 (1), 1-13.

League GP, Degner EC, Pitcher SA, Hafezi Y, Tennant E, Cruz PC, Krishnan RS, Garcia Castillo SS, Parra C, Avila FW, Wolfner MF and LC Harrington. 2021. The impact of mating and sugar feeding on blood-feeding physiology and behavior in the arbovirus vector mosquito Aedes aegypti. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15 (9), e0009815.

Joseph R McMillan, Christina A Harden, James C Burtis, Mallery I Breban, John J Shepard, Tanya A Petruff, Michael J Misencik, Angela B Bransfield, Joseph D Poggi, Laura C Harrington, Theodore G Andreadis, Philip M Armstrong. 2021. The community‐wide effectiveness of municipal larval control programs for West Nile virus risk reduction in Connecticut, USA. Pest Management Science. 77 (11), 5186-520.

GP League, LC Harrington, SA Pitcher, JK Geyer, LL Baxter, J Montijo, Rowland JG, Murdock CC and LJ Cator. 2021. Sexual selection theory meets disease vector control: Testing harmonic convergence as a “good genes” signal in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. PLoS neglected tropical diseases 15 (7), e0009540

Fikrig K and LC Harrington. 2021. Understanding and interpreting mosquito blood feeding studies: the case of Aedes albopictus. Trends in Parasitology. 37 (11), 959-975.

Reitmayer CM, Pathak AK, LC Harrington, Brindley MA, Cator LJ and CC Murdock. 2021. Sex, Age, and Acoustic Mating Interactions Affect the Immunity of Aedes aegypti Offspring. Communications Biology. Commun Biol 4, 723 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02236-5

EM Mader, C Ganser, A Geiger, LC Harrington, J Foley, RL Smith, … 2021. A survey of tick surveillance and control practices in the United States. Journal of medical entomology 58 (4), 1503-1512.

Burtis JC, Poggi J, Duval, TB, Bidlack E, Shepard JJ, Matton P, Rossetti R, and LC Harrington. 2021. Evaluation of a methoprene aerial application for the control of Culiseta melanura (Diptera: Culicidae) in wetland breeding larval habitats. Journal of Medical Entomology. 58 (6), 2330-2337.

Sherpa P, Piedmonte NP, Wunderlin K, Harrington LC and RC Falco.2021. Optimal collection methods for Asian longhorned ticks, Haemaphysalis longicornis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) in the Northeast US. Journal of Medical Entomology. 58 (6), 2255-2263 https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjab083

Nesgos AT, Harrington LC and EM Mader. 2021. Experience and Knowledge of Lyme Disease: A Scoping Review of Patient-Provider Communication” Zoonoses and Public Health. 12:(4) 101714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101714

Burtis JC, Poggi J, Payne B, Campbell SR, and LC Harrington. 2021. The susceptibility of Ixodes scapularis collected from a long-term 4-poster treatment area on Shelter Island, Long Island NY. J Med Entomol. https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjab054

Smith, LB, Chen C, Silva JJ, Harrington LC and JG Scott. 2021. Fitness costs of individual and combined pyrethroid resistance mechanisms, kdr and CYP-mediated detoxification, in Aedes aegypti. PLoS Negl. Trop Dis 15 (3), e0009271 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009271

Cator L.C, Wyer CAS and C Harrington. 2021. Mosquito sexual selection and reproductive control programs. Trends in Parasitology. 37 (4), 330-339 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2020.11.009

Please visit the prospective students tab to review the expectations you can have for me and I have for you as a student/trainee in the Harrington Lab!

Mervin Cuadera, Cierra Briggs, Lindsay Baxter and Kate Thornburg graduated with their MS degrees in May 2021!  They are on to bigger and better things.  We will provide updates on their new positions on the alumni page.  Also, check out the NEVBD website for more details soon!  http://www.neregionalvectorcenter.com/ms-in-entomology   

Lindsay Baxter won 3^rd place in the recent American Mosquito Control Association’s Annual Meeting student competition!  She presented her thesis work entitled “Ecological Associations of Powassan Virus in Southern Maine”.

Congratulations to graduate student Joe Poggi, recipient of the 2021 New Jersey Mosquito Control Association Daniel M. Jobbins Scholarship! This scholarship will support Joe’s work conducting research on the vector ecology of Jamestown Canyon virus in New Hampshire this upcoming summer

Congratulations to Kara on her new publication ‘Sugar feeding patterns of New York Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are affected by saturation deficit, flowers, and host seeking‘  in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.