Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Blake Stoner-Osborne Rose Hills

DNA Metabarcoding of Mosquito Gut Contents

When mosquitoes bite a host, they extract blood as a source of nutrition for their eggs. The DNA contained within mosquito blood meals can be extracted and identified using a method called DNA metabarcoding. Millions of DNA sequences of known organisms are contained within bioinformatic databases and extracted DNA sequences can be matched up to these known sequences. Using DNA metabarcoding of mosquito blood meals, I will map out mosquito predation from 5 locations across the state of California to test the hypothesis that mosquito predation will vary across locations, due to the different ecosystem types in these different regions.

Message To Sponsor

Thanks so much for funding this project! I learned a lot and was able to have a great research experience before starting graduate school. Funding like this makes such a difference for undergraduates and we all really appreciate you!