Nora J. Besansky | |
---|---|
Born | 1960 (age 63–64) Washington, D.C., US |
Spouse | Frank H. Collins |
Academic background | |
Education | BA, Biology, 1982, Oberlin College M.S., 1987, Genetics, M.Phil, PhD, 1990, Yale University |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Notre Dame |
Nora J. Besansky (born 1960) is an American molecular biologist. She is the Martin J. Gillen Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. In 2020,Besansky was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences for being an expert in the genomics of malaria vectors.
Besansky was born in 1960 [1] as the only child to Ukrainian immigrants who raised her near Washington,D.C. [2] She grew up in Silver Spring,Maryland and earned her first job at the Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. [1] Besansky completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Oberlin College in 1982 where she was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. [3] Following her undergraduate degree,Besansky accepted a technician position in a research laboratory at the National Institutes of Health. [4] Besansky eventually returned to school where she completed her Master's degree and Master of Philosophy in Genetics at Yale University in 1987. She remained at Yale for her PhD before completing her postdoctoral research fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [3]
Besansky continued to work with the CDC as a scientist following her fellowship while simultaneously maintaining an adjunct assistant professor position at the University of Notre Dame. She was then promoted to the rank of associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences until 2002. [3] While in this role,Besansky collaborated with her husband Frank H. Collins to genetically engineer Anopheles gambiae as a response to Malaria. She focused on comparing the DNA from various gambiae populations in West Africa to determine whether they were interbreeding. [5] Besansky was then encouraged by Harvard University professor William Gelbart to write a report proposing the sequencing of a cluster of eight Anopheles malaria vectors,including multiple An. gambiae complex members. This resulted in funding for a pilot genome-sequencing project focusing on An. gambiae Mopti (M) and Savanna (S). [2] In 2005,Besansky was recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for making "significant contributions to understanding the molecular,population and evolutionary biology of Anopheline mosquitoes,major vectors of malaria in Africa." [6]
Once the results of her genome-sequencing project were published in 2010,Besansky was approved to start a cluster project that was upgraded to include 16 Anopheles species. [2] Her original pilot project's genomic analysis revealed that M and S varieties of the Anopholes gambiae species were evolving into two distinct species. [7] At the same time,she was appointed the Rev. John Cardinal O’Hara,C.S.C. Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. [8] In 2014,Besansky's second cluster project published the results of their investigation into the genetic differences between 16 Anopheles species. Their findings revealed a closer gene connection between the species and how it contributed to their flexibility to adapt to new environments and to seek out human blood. [9] In the same year,she was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. [10]
Besansky continued to focus on gene sequencing which resulted in the sequencing of the genetic code of the Y chromosome in An. gambiae and closely related species in 2016 using long single-molecule sequencing technology and physical mapping of DNA directly to the Y chromosome. [2] [11] Following this,Besansky was elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America and Royal Entomological Society. [1] In 2020,Besansky was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences for being an expert in the genomics of malaria vectors. [12]
Besansky and her husband,tropical disease researcher Frank H. Collins,have two sons together. [4]
Mosquitoes,the Culicidae,are a family of small flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word mosquito is Spanish and Portuguese for little fly. Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body,one pair of wings,three pairs of long hair-like legs,and specialized,highly elongated,piercing-sucking mouthparts. All mosquitoes drink nectar from flowers;females of some species have in addition adapted to drink blood. The group diversified during the Cretaceous period. Evolutionary biologists view mosquitoes as micropredators,small animals that parasitise larger ones by drinking their blood without immediately killing them. Medical parasitologists view mosquitoes instead as vectors of disease,carrying protozoan parasites or bacterial or viral pathogens from one host to another.
Anopheles is a genus of mosquito first described by the German entomologist J. W. Meigen in 1818,and are known as nail mosquitoes and marsh mosquitoes. Many such mosquitoes are vectors of the parasite Plasmodium,a genus of protozoans that cause malaria in birds,reptiles,and mammals,including humans. The Anopheles gambiae mosquito is the best-known species of marsh mosquito that transmits the Plasmodium falciparum,which is a malarial parasite deadly to human beings;no other mosquito genus is a vector of human malaria.
Fotis Constantine Kafatos was a Greek biologist. Between 2007-2010 he was the founding president of the European Research Council (ERC). He chaired the ERC Scientific Council from 2006-2010. Thereafter,he was appointed Honorary President of the ERC.
The Anopheles gambiae complex consists of at least seven morphologically indistinguishable species of mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles. The complex was recognised in the 1960s and includes the most important vectors of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa,particularly of the most dangerous malaria parasite,Plasmodium falciparum. It is one of the most efficient malaria vectors known. The An. gambiae mosquito additionally transmits Wuchereria bancrofti which causes lymphatic filariasis,a symptom of which is elephantiasis.
Raymond Corbett Shannon was an American entomologist who specialised in Diptera and medical entomology.
VectorBase is one of the five Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRC) funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),which is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. VectorBase is focused on invertebrate vectors of human pathogens working with the sequencing centers and the research community to curate vector genomes.
Anopheles is a genus of mosquitoes (Culicidae) with about 484 recognised species.
Anopheles stephensi is a primary mosquito vector of malaria in urban India and is included in the same subgenus as Anopheles gambiae,the primary malaria vector in Africa. A. gambiae consists of a complex of morphologically identical species of mosquitoes,along with all other major malaria vectors;however,A. stephensi has not yet been included in any of these complexes. Nevertheless,two races of A. stephensi exist based on differences in egg dimensions and the number of ridges on the eggs;A. s. stephensisensu stricto,the type form,is a competent malaria vector that is found in urban areas,and A. s. mysorensis,the variety form,exists in rural areas and exhibits considerable zoophilic behaviour,making it a poor malaria vector. However,A. s. mysorensis is a detrimental vector in Iran. An intermediate form also exists in rural communities and peri-urban areas,though its vector status is unknown. About 12% of malaria cases in India are due to A. stephensi.
Janet Hemingway is a British infectious diseases specialist. She is the former Director of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and founding Director of Infection Innovation Consortium and Professor of Tropical Medicine at LSTM. She is currently the President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Christos Louis,nicknamed Kitsos,is a Greek Molecular Geneticist. He graduated from the Medical School of the University of Marburg in 1974 and joined the team of Prof. C.E. Sekeris,first at Marburg and then at the German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg,obtaining his doctoral degree in Cell biology from Heidelberg University in 1977. His work focuses on Genomics and Bioinformatics of insects and vector-borne/tropical diseases.
Andrea Crisanti is an Italian full professor of microbiology at the University of Padua and politician. He previously was professor of Molecular Parasitology at Imperial College London. He is best known for the development of genetically manipulated mosquitoes with the objective to interfere with either their reproductive rate or the capability to transmit diseases such as malaria.
Anopheles nili is a species of mosquito in the Culicidae family. It comprises the following elements:An. carnevalei,An. nili,An. ovengensis and An. somalicus. The scientific name of this species was first published in 1904 by Theobald. It is the main mosquito species found in the south Cameroon forest zone which bites humans. It is known as a problematic carrier of malaria,although newly discovered,closely related species in the same genus have also been found to interact with A. nili as a disease vector. In that,they both have similar feeding habits on local targets in the Cameroon region.
Judith H. Willis is an American biologist currently Professor Emeritus at University of Georgia and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research frequently involved insect cuticular proteins (CPs) as molecular markers of metamorphic stage,precise role CPs play in constructing insects and annotating the CP genes of Anopheles gambiae,the major vector of malaria.
Flaminia Catteruccia is an Italian professor of immunology and infectious disease at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,studying the interactions between malaria and the Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit the parasites.
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Alwen Myfanwy Evans (1895–1937) was a British entomologist,specialising in tropical insects particularly the ecology and identification of Anopheles species.
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