Alexandra E. DeFoe

The paper identifies convergent gene losses and expression changes associated with blood-feeding loss in non-blood-feeding mosquitoes.

The paper identifies MOSN, a novel sex-specifically spliced neuronal gene in Aedes aegypti, conserved in other mosquito species but absent in Drosophila, with distinct protein isoforms and a duplicated domain.

The paper examines DENV infection in Aedes aegypti mosquito brains and finds minimal transcriptional response despite productive viral replication.

The paper presents a single-nucleus RNA sequencing atlas of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, identifying novel cell types and sexual dimorphism in gene expression across tissues.