Melissa Leon Norena
Melissa is a first year-graduate student in the Biology Department studying Insect Sensation. She plans on exploring the mosquito’s ecological situatedness and the underlying mechanisms that drive mosquitoes' interaction with their environment. She hopes to contextualize chemosensory research of important vector species impacting human health by applying a broad range of molecular, neuronal, and behavioral skills in the Riffell Lab. This type of research provides a novel perspective on how arthropods transmit disease and carry out important behaviors such as nutrient foraging, egg-laying, or seeking a suitable mate. As a Latinx Biologist with roots in Colombia, the narrative of mosquitoes and arthropod vectors is seemingly ever-pressing and relevant.
Melissa's project summary:
Insects depend on smelling for behaviors such as egg-laying, host-selection, and plant-sugar seeking. These life-stage behaviors in insects such as mosquitoes, may have indirect consequences on the transmission of arthropod-borne diseases to people living in tropical or subtropical regions. For mosquitoes, complex olfactory systems allow for the detection of chemicals that drive nectar foraging, which is an important behavior for both female and male mosquitoes as it supports their many functions. The mediating role of mosquito olfaction in locating sugar sources has pushed for studies that aim to understand chemical information processing. The following art piece exemplifies the multidisciplinary approach to studying insect chemical ecology, since the field requires behavioral, electrophysiological, and chemical analytical techniques to observe the steps of insect sensation. How insects integrate chemical signals from their surroundings and the various mechanisms driving olfactory communication is complicated and pleasingly distracting to a keen eye. This type of research's entangling and precise nature is translated into an intricate and multi-identity pattern that aims to consider insect chemosensory with appreciation. The story-telling of insects and how they play the role of translating chemical spaces in our world is nuanced and oftentimes coupled with a biomedical importance. This art piece seeks to tell of the interdisciplinary work of insect chemosensory by means of delicate colors, elaborate detail, and playfulness of basic molecular and neuronal processes typically found in scientific circles.