Latest News

We are excited to share that our paper, “Genetics of range expansion and admixture of Aedes aegypti populations in California,” has been published in BMC Genomics.

The study uses whole-genome data to examine the population structure, range expansion, and admixture of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes across California, providing new insights into how this important disease vector has spread since its introduction to the state.

Congratulations to all of the authors on this publication!

Lab member Brett Morgan will present a poster entitled “Environmental Constraints on Movement: Using Landscape Resistance Models and Mark–Release–Recapture to Identify Dispersal Barriers” at the 12th Biennial Conference of the International Biogeography Society (TIBS Aarhus 2026).

We are pleased to announce that Rithika Senthilkumar, an Undergraduate Research Scholar in the UC Davis Vector Genetics Laboratory (VGL), has been awarded a 2025 Promega DOORS Scholarship. 

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The Vector Genetics Lab (VGL) at the University of California, Davis currently has three post-doctoral positions available for highly motivated candidates with a background in ecology, population genetics, genomics, or bioinformatics. The VGL focuses on problems in the fields of evolutionary genetics, ecology, and vector-borne disease control.

Ongoing projects:

Dr. Lanzaro will be the guest editor for a Special Issue of Insects dedicated to advancing our understanding of mosquito population genetics—a cornerstone of vector control, evolutionary ecology, and emerging genetic technologies. This Special Issue will include original research, reviews, and perspectives that explore topics such as the following:

A new study from our lab and collaborators, published in Parasites & Vectors, evaluates potential ecological effects of genetically engineered Anopheles coluzzii mosquitoes on predator species. As gene drive mosquitoes are being developed for malaria control, understanding their interactions with non-target organisms is critical for environmental risk assessment.

A perspectives piece titled "Is Gene Drive Research Losing Traction?" by Dr. Lanzaro and Ana Kormos was published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 

We are thrilled to announce that our film Anopheles has been selected to be screened at the Carmel International Film Festival this October!

With Malaria being one of the killer diseases for children under 5 years and pregnant mothers in Africa, the 9th cohort of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, 2025 got an opportunity to interact with Vector Genetic Lab team to learn about the new tools to control and overview of the UCMI program.

Our 2025 interest seminars have now concluded for our undergraduate research program. They were very popular this year. We had over 150 interested students attend! It was standing room only on Friday. Interviews will start as early as next week after the applications close.

Over the weekend the 2024-25 VGL undergraduate researchers presented their work at the UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference. This year all our undergrads chose to give oral presentations! For more photos, view the VGL Events and Activities album.

A huge congratulations to:

Angela Hopkins
Fatima Batchelor
Bella Fajardo
Arnold Irungu
Aleena Bosky
Nikhitha Ravi
Joey Nguyen

Dr. Lanzaro and Ana Kormos will be presenting this week at the Johns Hopkins World Malaria Day Symposium: Building better mosquitoes.

Photographer Mark Scott Unger is at the Vector Genetics Lab this week taking more photos and videos of our mosquitoes, spiders, and fish.

Congratulations to Dr. Melina Campos, Marc Crepeau and Dr. Greg Lanzao on the publication of their long awaited G3 paper! You can read the paper here: Defining the genetics of the widely used G3 strain of the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae.