Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof at Iowa State. Vector biology and innate immunity. Lover of mosquitoes and tacos. Caffeine and history buff. Unlikely midwesterner. Thoughts are my own.
Excited to contribute to this beautiful study led by @yukihaba.bsky.social and @lindymcbr.bsky.social!
How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito
Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...
www.science.org
November 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Excited to contribute to this beautiful study led by @yukihaba.bsky.social and @lindymcbr.bsky.social!
I'm happy that I could contribute even a small part to this fantastic and monumental study! Huge shoutout to @oliviagoldman.net @nadavshai.bsky.social and @leslievosshall.bsky.social for their incredible leadership in organizing this massive project!
Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸
There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito
A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell
types and widespread co-expres...
www.cell.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:34 PM
I'm happy that I could contribute even a small part to this fantastic and monumental study! Huge shoutout to @oliviagoldman.net @nadavshai.bsky.social and @leslievosshall.bsky.social for their incredible leadership in organizing this massive project!
Since my study section meeting was postponed, I am able to submit my own grant a few days earlier than expected. I just wish that my outlook for the entire system was better than at present.
October 24, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Since my study section meeting was postponed, I am able to submit my own grant a few days earlier than expected. I just wish that my outlook for the entire system was better than at present.
Reposted by Ryan Smith
David Hall & @vectorimmunity.bsky.social highlight @merklinglab.bsky.social & colleagues’ Cell Genomics article on #mosquito cellular responses in #midgut & #fatbody after #bloodfeeding. #Aedes #aegypti #scRNAseq #Metabolomics @iastateresearch.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lbEr5Eb1x...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lbEr5Eb1x...
August 13, 2025 at 11:49 AM
David Hall & @vectorimmunity.bsky.social highlight @merklinglab.bsky.social & colleagues’ Cell Genomics article on #mosquito cellular responses in #midgut & #fatbody after #bloodfeeding. #Aedes #aegypti #scRNAseq #Metabolomics @iastateresearch.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lbEr5Eb1x...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lbEr5Eb1x...
Celebrating the holiday weekend with another bang! Our work describing roles of TNF signaling on mosquito immune cell function and in limiting malaria parasite infection is now published. Big shout out to @georgesaman.bsky.social and others for their contributions! journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
TNF signaling mediates cellular immune function and promotes malaria parasite killing in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae
Author summary Mosquito innate immunity is a major determinant of vector competence with significant implications in malaria transmission. During infection with the Plasmodium parasite, mosquitoes mou...
journals.plos.org
July 5, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Celebrating the holiday weekend with another bang! Our work describing roles of TNF signaling on mosquito immune cell function and in limiting malaria parasite infection is now published. Big shout out to @georgesaman.bsky.social and others for their contributions! journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Reposted by Ryan Smith
Despite all the shit going on, we have to celebrate our victories. New publication with @entomososwin.bsky.social and @vectorimmunity.bsky.social showing that hemocytes play a central role in disseminating flaviviruses to secondary tissues potentially functioning as a Trojan Horse(TBD)
rdcu.be/euj4g
rdcu.be/euj4g
Mosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti
Nature Communications - Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus...
rdcu.be
July 1, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Despite all the shit going on, we have to celebrate our victories. New publication with @entomososwin.bsky.social and @vectorimmunity.bsky.social showing that hemocytes play a central role in disseminating flaviviruses to secondary tissues potentially functioning as a Trojan Horse(TBD)
rdcu.be/euj4g
rdcu.be/euj4g
Excited to share our latest collaborative work with @entomososwin.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social looking at the role of mosquito immune cells in virus infection. It turns out that these cells help disseminate virus infection, increasing the potential for virus transmission rdcu.be/euiZt
Mosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti
Nature Communications - Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus...
rdcu.be
July 3, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Excited to share our latest collaborative work with @entomososwin.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social looking at the role of mosquito immune cells in virus infection. It turns out that these cells help disseminate virus infection, increasing the potential for virus transmission rdcu.be/euiZt
Heading out for a night of weirdness with the family
June 28, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Heading out for a night of weirdness with the family
It's nice to start off your day with "We are delighted to accept your manuscript..."
June 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
It's nice to start off your day with "We are delighted to accept your manuscript..."
It's the time of the year when a student can be genuinely excited about getting a D-. D's get degrees.
Only the best and brightest are ready to hit the workforce!
Only the best and brightest are ready to hit the workforce!
May 13, 2025 at 8:45 PM
It's the time of the year when a student can be genuinely excited about getting a D-. D's get degrees.
Only the best and brightest are ready to hit the workforce!
Only the best and brightest are ready to hit the workforce!
Reposted by Ryan Smith
This is a great explainer of just how much trouble NIH-funded scientists are about to be in. 😨
New at Can We Still Govern: An anonymous NIH employee maps out the GOP budget gameplan to permanently gut our most important science agency.
Impoundment, delay and red tape will create artificial "savings" that become the new benchmark for NIH budgets.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...
Impoundment, delay and red tape will create artificial "savings" that become the new benchmark for NIH budgets.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...
The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster
An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
donmoynihan.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 4:35 PM
This is a great explainer of just how much trouble NIH-funded scientists are about to be in. 😨
Reposted by Ryan Smith
Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu
Harvard University
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a difference globally.
www.harvard.edu
April 14, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu
Does anyone have recommendations for a preferably free or low-cost software platform for cloning, plasmid design, and curation for the lab. I "grew up" scientifically with VectorNTI. Is SnapGene the best current option? Any other alternatives that you might recommend?
a cartoon character from south park says please in front of a sign that says south park
ALT: a cartoon character from south park says please in front of a sign that says south park
media.tenor.com
April 3, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Does anyone have recommendations for a preferably free or low-cost software platform for cloning, plasmid design, and curation for the lab. I "grew up" scientifically with VectorNTI. Is SnapGene the best current option? Any other alternatives that you might recommend?
Reposted by Ryan Smith
The cost-saving claims don’t hold up. Every dollar in NIH research grants generates $2.46 in economic activity, research shows—a total of $93 billion in 2023 alone.
“It’s incredible to me that we would give up this thing that has such obvious societal benefits,” says biologist Mark Peifer.
“It’s incredible to me that we would give up this thing that has such obvious societal benefits,” says biologist Mark Peifer.
America will pay dearly for the NIH’s mindless war on wokeness and DEI
Colleges, businesses, patients, students, workers, and US excellence will all suffer—and for what?
www.motherjones.com
February 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
The cost-saving claims don’t hold up. Every dollar in NIH research grants generates $2.46 in economic activity, research shows—a total of $93 billion in 2023 alone.
“It’s incredible to me that we would give up this thing that has such obvious societal benefits,” says biologist Mark Peifer.
“It’s incredible to me that we would give up this thing that has such obvious societal benefits,” says biologist Mark Peifer.
Reposted by Ryan Smith
The biggest hit to extramural program staff appears to be grants management specialists (GMSs). It appears that 15-20% of GMSs were terminated.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
kermit the frog has his hand on his mouth
ALT: kermit the frog has his hand on his mouth
media.tenor.com
February 17, 2025 at 1:53 AM
The biggest hit to extramural program staff appears to be grants management specialists (GMSs). It appears that 15-20% of GMSs were terminated.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
🚨 We are recruiting for two post-doc positions!🚨
1) Development of genetic tools to study mosquito immune cells isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
2) Role of mosquito immune cells in immune recognition and priming isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
1) Development of genetic tools to study mosquito immune cells isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
2) Role of mosquito immune cells in immune recognition and priming isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
February 6, 2025 at 9:31 PM
🚨 We are recruiting for two post-doc positions!🚨
1) Development of genetic tools to study mosquito immune cells isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
2) Role of mosquito immune cells in immune recognition and priming isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
1) Development of genetic tools to study mosquito immune cells isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
2) Role of mosquito immune cells in immune recognition and priming isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
Excited to share that I officially received my first R01 today! It's been a long road, one marked by persistence and several grants that narrowly missed the payline. Now to do all of the exciting work that we proposed!
I will be hiring, so be on the lookout for job postings!
I will be hiring, so be on the lookout for job postings!
January 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Excited to share that I officially received my first R01 today! It's been a long road, one marked by persistence and several grants that narrowly missed the payline. Now to do all of the exciting work that we proposed!
I will be hiring, so be on the lookout for job postings!
I will be hiring, so be on the lookout for job postings!
Nice to see the influx of people moving onto this platform. Fingers crossed that we can develop something comparable to SciTwitter before Elon
November 11, 2024 at 10:57 PM
Nice to see the influx of people moving onto this platform. Fingers crossed that we can develop something comparable to SciTwitter before Elon
New preprint from our collaboration with
@perrimonlab.bsky.social in which we perform a genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles to identify essential mosquito genes and examine clodronate liposome function. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@perrimonlab.bsky.social in which we perform a genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles to identify essential mosquito genes and examine clodronate liposome function. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles mosquito cells identifies essential genes and required components of clodronate liposome function
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
www.biorxiv.org
September 24, 2024 at 6:10 PM
New preprint from our collaboration with
@perrimonlab.bsky.social in which we perform a genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles to identify essential mosquito genes and examine clodronate liposome function. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@perrimonlab.bsky.social in which we perform a genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles to identify essential mosquito genes and examine clodronate liposome function. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🚨Mosquito/fly tweeps🚨
Does anyone know of an alternative to E-RNAi?
I/we have used that platform to design dsRNAs for more than 15 years and it appears as though the URL is no longer available. Any help would be much appreciated! TIA!
Does anyone know of an alternative to E-RNAi?
I/we have used that platform to design dsRNAs for more than 15 years and it appears as though the URL is no longer available. Any help would be much appreciated! TIA!
a man is crying while laying on a couch and saying i 'm begging .
ALT: a man is crying while laying on a couch and saying i 'm begging .
media.tenor.com
August 29, 2024 at 9:31 PM
🚨Mosquito/fly tweeps🚨
Does anyone know of an alternative to E-RNAi?
I/we have used that platform to design dsRNAs for more than 15 years and it appears as though the URL is no longer available. Any help would be much appreciated! TIA!
Does anyone know of an alternative to E-RNAi?
I/we have used that platform to design dsRNAs for more than 15 years and it appears as though the URL is no longer available. Any help would be much appreciated! TIA!
Reposted by Ryan Smith
Excited to be apart of this exciting work examining the role of hemocytes during arbovirus infection. Check it out now on bioRxiv. @vectorimmunity.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
April 15, 2024 at 5:10 PM
Excited to be apart of this exciting work examining the role of hemocytes during arbovirus infection. Check it out now on bioRxiv. @vectorimmunity.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Excited to share our latest work! Together with @brackneylab.bsky.social and @entomososwin.bsky.social we demonstrate that mosquito immune cells act as "trojan horses" to help spread DENV and ZIKV infection from the midgut to other mosquito tissues!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
April 5, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Excited to share our latest work! Together with @brackneylab.bsky.social and @entomososwin.bsky.social we demonstrate that mosquito immune cells act as "trojan horses" to help spread DENV and ZIKV infection from the midgut to other mosquito tissues!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Slowly emerging back into society after submitting two R01s
March 5, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Slowly emerging back into society after submitting two R01s
Reposted by Ryan Smith
CAES is hiring an assistant scientist II (equivalent to assistant professor, but 100% research) in the area of modeling and data analysis for vector-borne diseases.
Come join my department!
@entsocamerica.bsky.social
portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES...
Come join my department!
@entsocamerica.bsky.social
portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES...
portal.ct.gov
December 30, 2023 at 5:23 PM
CAES is hiring an assistant scientist II (equivalent to assistant professor, but 100% research) in the area of modeling and data analysis for vector-borne diseases.
Come join my department!
@entsocamerica.bsky.social
portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES...
Come join my department!
@entsocamerica.bsky.social
portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES...
Reposted by Ryan Smith
I unexpectedly have a position available in my laboratory. If you know anyone interested in relocating to the Twin Cities, tell them to get in touch. Could involve genomic surveillance, mosquito-virus interactions, and/or molecular virology.
December 21, 2023 at 2:18 PM
I unexpectedly have a position available in my laboratory. If you know anyone interested in relocating to the Twin Cities, tell them to get in touch. Could involve genomic surveillance, mosquito-virus interactions, and/or molecular virology.