Investigators and Program Directors
Jan E. Conn
Research Scientist, Wadsworth Center, Zoonotic Diseases
Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Biomedical Sciences
Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1987
Postdoctoral training, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1988-1990
and Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 1990-1994
Assistant Professor then Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Biology, University of Vermont, 1994-2002
E-mail: jconn@wadsworth.org
Research Interests
We use molecular markers (microsatellites, sequences) to test hypotheses concerning population structure, phylogeography, and phylogenetic relationships of mosquitoes at the population and species levels. We examine malaria vectors (in the genus Anopheles) in Brazil and Nigeria and putative vectors (in the genus Culex) of West Nile virus (WNV) in the United States.
Our current project in Amazonian Brazil focuses on two malaria vectors. Anopheles darlingi remains the major Neotropical malaria vector in Brazil but its importance may be diminishing in some ecologically altered environments, while increasing in others. We are the first group to have incriminated Anopheles marajoara as the primary vector around the city of Macapá in Amapá state, Brazil and we have corroborated its importance in malaria transmission in the city of Boa Vista in Roraima state, Brazil. Using mtDNA COI sequences and Nested Clade Analysis we have demonstrated that An. marajoara has undergone a population expansion in the Amazonian Delta area, which may help explain its increased importance in transmission.
We are investigating patterns of distribution, abundance and infectivity of An. marajoara and An. darlingi by testing hypotheses in two ecoregions, savanna and lowland rainforest, and in agricultural settlements and gold mines. A second project tests hypotheses of population structure, genetic diversity, differentiation and effective population size from representative population samples in the presence of ecological disturbance.
In Nigeria we are assessing population structure and gene flow in the malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae and An. arabiensis using microsatellites, mtDNA markers and the IGS region of rDNA. We have determined that across five ecological zones in Nigeria, selection appears to limit gene flow in An. gambiae and range expansion has occurred in An. arabiensis.
Our current project in Culex populations examines urban versus non-urban sites in three geographical locations in New York State with various levels of WNV activity, to determine whether the genetic structure may contribute to differing viral activity. We are also assessing the role in WNV transmission and the genetics of Culex pipiens along a transect from Florida to New York.
Contact Information
E-mail: jconn@wadsworth.org
Office Phone: (518) 869-4575
Lab Phone: (518) 869-4549
Fax: (518) 869-6487