Max Andersson

My current research focuses on the deorphanisation of odorant receptors in the mosquito disease vectors Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti.  What this entails is finding salient binding ligands and linking these to their cognate odorant receptors through electrophysiological experiments with single sensillum recordings (SSR). This method allows us to measure the depolarisation events happening in the individual neurons housed inside the sensillum of the sensory organs found in insects. These neurons, in turn, house a single type of odorant receptor and, by the response to the ligand, determine the response. Through a system called the empty neuron system, we can genetically modify the endogenous neurons of the model insect Drosophila melanogaster. These neurons are then edited to host exogenous odorant receptors usually not found within D. melanogaster. This will hopefully give us further understanding of the function of the various odorant receptors in these disease vectors and in the future, a better understanding of mosquito attraction to its hosts like humans.