Finally, I thank my PhD advisor Lindy McBride @lindymcbr.bsky.social for her unwavering support from start to end of this project – and the McBride lab @princeton.edu for their intellectual and emotional support during and beyond my PhD!
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A massive thank-you to Noah Rose and Molly Schumer for their generous mentorship and guidance throughout the project, particularly on the population genomic analyses.
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While most communications were online, I had the privilege of meeting some of the PipPop consortium members in person — and every interaction was inspiring.

A special shout-out to @flygirlnhm.bsky.social and Colin Malcolm for making my dream come true: meeting belowground molestus in London!
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PipPop was a massive, international effort.

We are deeply grateful to each one of the 200+ co-authors – from 44 different countries across the globe – who came together to tackle this fascinating evolutionary question.
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Beyond its fascinating adaptations, Cx pipiens is also a major vector of West Nile virus, which sometimes spills over from birds to humans.

Our results help us understand gene flow between the two forms, with implications for predicting when and where humans may be at risk.
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tl;dr: Our genomic analyses show that molestus likely evolved human-biting and other adaptations 1000s of years ago in early agricultural societies of the Mediterranean or Middle East!
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To understand the origin of molestus, we started PipPop: Culex PIPiens POPulation genomics project.

Together with 200+ amazing collaborators, we sequenced whole genomes of 800+ mosquitoes across ~50 countries!
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molestus became famous during WWII for feasting on Londoners who sheltered in subway tunnels to avoid Nazi bombing raids and was hence dubbed the London Underground Mosquito.

It’s become an oft-cited example with the recent surge of interest in urban adaptation.
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Evolving from the ancestral, bird-biting form, molestus shows myriad adaptations to human-made environments, including its thirst for human blood and the ability to breed in belowground environments, such as subways, cellars, and cesspits.
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Urbanization is rapidly reshaping ecosystems, posing the question of whether and how quickly animals and plants can adapt. Cx. pipiens form molestus is often held up as a benchmark for the potential speed and complexity of urban adaptation.
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... also fun seeing your friend being an awesome new professor there @elliediamant.bsky.social

Had a wonderful time at @bardcollege.bsky.social giving an invited seminar in the Biology Seminar series! Really enjoyed conversations with the curious students and amazing faculty, plus a walk around the gorgeous campus. The Hudson Valley view en route was the cherry on top.

Thrilled to be named a Leon Levy Scholar
@nyasciences.bsky.social! With my inspiring mentor @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social, I’ll tackle genetic, neuronal, and evolutionary questions about fascinating social behaviors in naked mole-rats. Looking forward to joining the great community of neuroscientists!

Excited to be giving an invited seminar at NYU next Friday (Apr 25th), hosted by Dept. Biology, XE, and Gallatin. Come if you want to hear about our recent work on the origin and evolution of an urban, underground mosquito!

RSVP at: bit.ly/NYUUrbanEcoEvo
Beautiful artwork by Dr. Mustafa Saifuddin

Truly enjoyed visiting UIUC EEB, sharing our work, and above all chatting with people about the exciting science happening there!

Very excited to have joined the Ishmail Abdus-Saboor lab at Columbia’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute! #teammolerats

Happy to get an honorable mention for the Hamilton Award! #Evol2024

Many thanks to my advisor Lindy McBride and my mentors esp. @noahhrose.bsky.social and @mollyschumer.bsky.social !

Big shout out to @sse-evolution.bsky.social for organizing the award sessions. Enjoyed every finalist's talk!