Waiting in the Wings: Emergence of Zika and Other Mosquito-Borne Viruses

Special Free Lecture - at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (Albuquerque)

What: Waiting in the Wings: Emergence of Zika and Other Mosquito-Borne Viruses
Who: Kathryn Hanley, Ph.D., Biology Department, NMSU
When: 7:00pm, Friday, September 23, 2016
Where: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (map)

Mosquito-borne viruses in the Americas have undergone a cataclysmic shift over the past decade.  Rates of dengue fever have surged across North and South America including Florida, Hawaii, and regions of the U.S.- Mexico border.  Chikungunya virus invaded the Americas in 2013 ushering in an epidemic of disabling joint pain. Finally Zika virus appeared in the Americas in 2015, triggering a public health emergency because of its ability to cause microcephaly in the developing fetus. This presentation will describe the ancestral cycles of dengue, chikungunya and Zika and the ecological factors that promote human transmission.  Dr. Hanley will offer her thoughts on what the future may hold and whether new methods of mosquito control will be sufficient to contain whatever may be "waiting in the wings."

Dr. Kathryn A. Hanley conducts cutting-edge research on the emergence and control of mosquito-borne viruses, including Zika, dengue and chikungunya. She participated in the development of a dengue virus vaccine, currently in clinical trials, during research at the National Institutes of Health. At NMSU she investigates the ecology and molecular biology of mosquito-borne viruses in the laboratory and the field, and works on the development of new drugs to treat dengue and Zika virus.  She has authored or co-authored more than 50 research papers and co-edited the book Frontiers in Dengue Virus Research.  Dr. Hanley has a B.S. in biology (Amherst College) and Ph.D. in biology (University of California, San Diego). She is currently the Chair of the American Committee on Arthropod-borne Viruses.

This special lecture is sponsored by the New Mexico Academy of Science in partnership with the NM Museum of Natural History & Science.
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