Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
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cassandrakoh.bsky.social
Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
@cassandrakoh.bsky.social
Mosquito Virus Ecology group leader at Institut Pasteur, FR.

#Mosquito #Virome #OneHealth #Arbovirus
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
I gave a talk last year at TEDxNewEngland aimed at introducing the idea of viral sociality to a general audience, including implications for evolution & virology. Video now available online below.

#socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
The social lives of viruses | Asher Leeks | TEDxNewEngland
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
I'm so excited to share this with all of you!
This is the very first paper where I am the first author 🥹
Let me share some insights about our work 👇🧵(1/5):

How do persistent viral infections impact the host?

What happens when a fly becomes persistently infected by a virus?
October 17, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
The final round this year for international PhD scholarships at Monash are now open (August 31st 2025). Interested in evolutionary ecology, global change, sex differences, and/or infectious disease? Maybe some ecotox together with @bbmwong.bsky.social. Get in touch. There will be Daphnia involved...
August 7, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
We look forward seeing you Aug. 12 for our next webinar on Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. Dr Maringer @maringerlab.bsky.social will present "Virus-specific innate immune responses in Aedes aegypti". Register: lnkd.in/gJdiYGm7. @astmh.bsky.social @sbvirologia.bsky.social @utmbhealth.bsky.social
July 18, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
We have a postdoc position available in which we’re using flavivirus replication/molecular biology to make refractory mosquitoes - in collaboration with the Trevor Sweeney lab at @pirbrightinst.bsky.social. Check out the advert on LinkedIn and apply by 12/6.

www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...
The Pirbright Institute hiring Postdoctoral Researcher in Woking, England, United Kingdom | LinkedIn
Posted 1:09:44 PM. Postdoctoral Researcher – (24P-73)The Pirbright Institute Salary: £38,5000 to 40,000 per annum36…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
www.linkedin.com
June 4, 2025 at 10:20 AM
📣 I'm recruiting a postdoc researcher to join my team for a project on mosquito-specific viruses and host interactions. Peep the job description & how to apply below. Perfect for soon-to-be or recent PhD graduates in mosquito vector biology 🦟 or arbovirology 🦠
🗓️ Application deadline 31 August 2025
July 28, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
🦟 Bioinformatics Research Scientist position open in my lab in Nice (FR) to study Aedes mosquito retrotransposons & their interactions with arboviruses collab w/ @salehlabparis.bsky.social & @lambrechtslab.bsky.social
Apply: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/359830
Please boost! #ArboRetro #Bioinformatics
July 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
new from the lab -- we investigate 100% ethanol, DMSO salt solution (DESS), EDTA, RNAlater, and AllProtect as possible approaches for short term room temperature preservation of mosquito HMW DNA, nuclei for Hi-C, and RNA towards high quality reference genome creation. the key findings/tips are ....
Breaking the cold chain: solutions for room temperature preservation of mosquitoes leading to high quality reference genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.03.662936v1
July 7, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Thrilled (and humbled!) to share that since today I am the Chair of the Virology Department at @pasteur.fr. Grateful to my colleagues for their trust. Now let’s push the frontiers of virus research together. The sky is the limit! 🦠🔬 #Virology #Science #TeamPasteur
July 1, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
🚨 Save the date!!
We're hosting the next European Congress of Entomology (ECE) in Tours, France 🇫🇷 from 29 June to 3 July 2026 🐞🦋🐜
🔬 50+ symposia covering nearly every aspect of insect science
📅 Registration opens 10 July 2025
🔗 Stay tuned: www.ece2026.org
#ECE2026 #Entomology #Insects
ECE 2026 - XIII European Congress of Entomology
It is our great pleasure to welcome you to Tours, France, in the heart of the Loire Valley, from June 29 to July 3, 2026.
www.ece2026.org
June 24, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…
June 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Big news! Applications for the 2025/2026 Paris Postdocs Seminars series are now open ⭐

Don’t miss the chance to present your scientific work in one of our 13 participating institutes and increase your network!

📆 Register by June 15th, 2025 here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#ParisPostdocs
Paris Postdocs Seminars - 2025/2026 series
Application form for the 2025/2026 Paris Postdocs Seminar series
docs.google.com
June 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Blood-feeding patterns of #mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) collected in an area of high arbovirus transmission in West-Central Brazil JMedEnt
Blood-feeding patterns of #mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) collected in an area of high arbovirus transmission in West-Central Brazil
Abstract#mosquitoes target a wide range of vertebrate species for blood meal and study of these vector–host interactions enhances our knowledge of how vector-borne viruses are transmitted. In the last decades, West-Central Brazil has faced the emergence and reemergence of several arboviruses, with a great public health impact. In addition to the well-known #Aedes-borne viruses, such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, other arboviruses have spread throughout the country and constitute a continuous public health concern. We report results of blood meal analysis of #mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) collected in urbanized areas of West-Central Brazil during a Zika virus surveillance between 2017 and 2018. Amplification and sequencing of mitochondrial DNA were used to determine vertebrate origin. A total of 284 blood-engorged #mosquitoes belong to 6 genera and 12 species were collected. Of these, we successfully identified blood meal in 146 (51.4%). Collections of blood-fed individuals were dominated by species of #Culex (65.8%) and #Aedes (25.4%). Overall, blood meal profiles demonstrated that humans were the main source (56.8%). Despite anthropophilic preferences, #Aedes aegypti also fed on domestic (12.5%) and wild mammals (8.3%). #Culex spp. showed an ornithophilic pattern. Humans made up 80% (n = 20) of blood meals from #Aedes albopictus while 20% (n = 5) were from horses. Our results expand the knowledge regarding the vertebrate species used as hosts by #mosquitoes in urbanized areas of Brazil. The variety of vertebrate species, including rodents, bats, and humans used by the local #mosquitoes, highlights the continuous risk for spillover events.
dlvr.it
May 27, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Glad to see this out!! It’s been bafflingly difficult to convince people that assuming mosquito transmission of Oropouche is a sloppy prior directly contradicted by all available evidence 🥲 and that, in turn, it’s a serious problem that we know so little about Culicoides paraensis distribution…
🦟🦠 NEW! We looked at every experiment going back to the 1960s, and found that mosquitoes are almost certainly not primary or secondary vectors of Oropouche virus - a common claim in both the scientific literature and public health communication. #EpiSky #IDSky 😷🧪

journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
Vector competence for Oropouche virus: A systematic review of pre-2024 experiments
Oropouche virus has recently become an urgent threat to public health in Central and South America. OROV is mainly transmitted by biting midges; however, some public health agencies and scientific sou...
journals.plos.org
April 30, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Choose Science. Choose Europe.

A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.

With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.

Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
May 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
The co-receptors Orco and Ir8a are required for coordinated expression of chemosensory genes in the antennae of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.23.650034v1
April 25, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
🧵1/ Introducing ExpBites, a lightweight #rstats 📦 to analyze mosquito biting exposure according to hourly activities and locations of human and #mosquitoes. Built for modeling true expected #bednet efficacy.🦟⛺️

📦 GitHub: buff.ly/tImDQdv
🎚️ Shiny app: buff.ly/t9oMOwv

#malaria #anopheles
April 22, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Excited to see the final version of this paper with @samurscicop.bsky.social and Daniel Matute out in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social!

We took a dive into the complicated demographic history of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and its impact on the distribution of genetic diversity
doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...
Demographic history, genetic load, and the efficacy of selection in the globally invasive mosquito Aedes aegypti
Abstract. Aedes aegypti is the main vector species of yellow fever, dengue, Zika and chikungunya. The species is originally from Africa but has experienced
doi.org
April 7, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Our new preprint (ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...) describes✨AedesTraits✨ (zenodo.org/records/1514...) - A global database on temperature-trait responses in Aedes mosquitoes. #AedesTraits holds >31,000 rows of fully open data extracted from published literature (1930s to 2025)!
AedesTraits: A global database of temperature–dependent trait responses in Aedes mosquitoes
ecoevorxiv.org
April 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪
Come and work with me!

The Nature Micro team is expanding and we're looking for someone to champion microbial ecology, plant micro & related areas for the journal

Knowledge of microbial ecology/plant micro is desirable but we're open to applications from all microbiologists

Link below 👇
April 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Too important a read not to repost
#NewPI 👀
The "Crazy/Bitch" Narrative About Senior Academic Women
x Jennifer Berdahl
jberdahl.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-...
March 14, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I forgot that first author @kdainty.bsky.social is on Bsky too...Congrats Kim on this nice work!
#SymbioSky 🦟
New work out from @heatherflores.bsky.social & colleagues: Wolbachia genome show little variation post-introgression into natural Aedes aegypti populations, a non-native insect host. Super interesting finding on host-symbiont relationships and great news for Wolbachia-based vector control efforts!🦟🧪
High genomic stability of wMel Wolbachia after introgression into three geographically distinct Aedes aegypti populations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.24.638572v1
March 14, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Check out this neat piece of work using transcriptomics to link viral infections to altered aging processes... Also doesn't love a study with its own mascot? 🧪🪰🦠
In my first Drosophila study at @salehlabparis.bsky.social, we found that:

1. Enteric viral infections accelerate aging.
2. Even if the infection is cleared, aging process remains triggered.
3. Accelerated aging correlates with reduced lifespan.

📑Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 14, 2025 at 3:37 PM