June 2-6: Grace
This week things really ramped up! I’ve never worked with mosquitoes before (only mice/rats and cell cultures) so this was a big change for me. I got to go inside the CSU insectary for the first time! It's such a cool facility, and the rearing process for mosquitoes is so much more in depth then I expected. After what I learned this week, it's hard for me to believe mosquitos can hatch in the wild.
Outside of basic handling and safety training I ran my first bottle assay. I did this with Oliva (also a RaPH VEC intern) to test insecticide resistance. The difference between susceptible mosquitoes’ vs wild mosquitoes’ knock down time is staggering.One thing that surprised me was that the CDC protocol for bottle assay testing recommends a different method of exposure than what would happen in the field/real world. However Dr. Saavedra-Rodriguez (who’s the PI) is having us do both methods. I really love that she's doing both types of testing because I think it's really covering all the possible bases.
Bottle assay picture from the CDC for refrence (https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/media/pdfs/2024/04/CDC-Global-Bottle-Bioassay-Manual-508.pdf)
Loved reading this, Grace! It’s wild how much more complex mosquito rearing is than you’d expect, especially seeing it done in a controlled setting like the insectary. The bottle assay work sounds super interesting too. It’s surprising how different the knockdown times can be between lab-reared and wild mosquitoes, and it’s great that both testing methods are being used. Definitely feels like a more complete picture that way. Looking forward to hearing how it all continues!
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