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Dr. Harrington became interested in global health issues and vector-borne diseases after living and working for several years in a small Thai village. She contracted both dengue and malaria while living abroad and realized the impact these infections have on both children and adults in resource poor nations.Her research focuses on the biology, ecology and behavior of mosquitoes that transmit human disease.Current research projects in her laboratory focus on the feeding behavior of mosquito vectors of dengue fever and West Nile virus, human and animal-mosquito interactions, vector ecology, mosquito reproductive behavior, and the evolution of insecticide resistance.She recently began a cross-disciplinary project on climate change and West Nile virus risk to human health in the United States.Two other new projects involve the mating biology of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti and development/ecology of transgenic mosquitoes that are refractory to disease pathogens.
Dr. Harrington is active in extension and outreach activities and has produced several recent extension publications.She offers courses in Medical and Veterinary Entomology (ENTOM 352) and a non-majors course Plagues and People (BIO&SOC/ENTOM 210) and teaches the malaria module of Introduction to Global Health (NS 206). She advises and mentors a large group of undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of entomology, ecology and evolutionary biology, biomathematics, general biology, animal science, and biology and society.
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Michelle Helinski joined the Harrington lab as a postdoc in May 2008. She performed her graduate work at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, where she studied the effects of radiation on male biology and mating competitiveness in the African malaria mosquito Anopheles arabiensis. This thesis was defended at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, where she is from. At Cornell she will be busy studying the fitness of genetically modified vectors of Dengue, in addition to all there is to know about mating strategies, both in the laboratory and in the field in Tapachula, Mexico. When she isn¡¯t working, Michelle enjoys sports including tennis and soccer, Ithaca¡¯s beautiful outdoors, and learning Spanish.
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Caitlin McKenna has been a member of the Harrington Lab since June of 2003. She began working as a technician in November of 2006. Caitlin graduated from Cornell University in 2006 with a B.S. in Biology and Society (with a Pre-Med focus) and a minor in Nutrition. As an undergrad research assistant, Caitlin gained a wealth of experience in molecular work, including DNA extraction, PCR, agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and silver staining. She has been a part of summer field collection teams, helped in the set-up and carrying out of many ELISA¡¯s, and has played an integral role in many lab projects. She has assisted graduate students with their research and has undergone training to maintain colonies and morphologically identify mosquitoes. She is looking forward to learning from and collaborating with undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral students in her new position.
In the next few years Caitlin plans to attend Medical school and aspires to become a ¡°Doctor Without Borders¡± to make a difference in developing nations. In Caitlin¡¯s spare time, she plays soccer and lacrosse, enjoys drawing and painting, volunteers at Loaves and Fishes, and spends time with friends. She would love to travel to every continent and learn the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples and cultures of the world
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Lauren Cator is a second year graduate student in the Harrington Lab.Lauren is interested in mating biology and its possible applications in disease control. She is conducting research on mating biology and mate selection in medically important mosquitoes with an emphasis on male fitness.? Her projects focus on flight tone and its role in mating behavior.
She is originally from Virginia, but received a B.A. in Biology from The Colorado College in Colorado Springs. As an undergraduate she conducted research on the host seeking behaviors of tsetse flies in Taragire National Park, Tanzania. She hopes to return to Tanzania in the summer to study mosquitoes.
When she isn¡¯t studying mosquitoes, Lauren enjoys the great outdoors, singing, and TAing Introductory Biology and Plagues and People.
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Mari Kimura is a graduate student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Her PhD research investigates the influence of mosquito vectors on the evolution and ecology of avian malaria parasites. She is conducting mosquito-feeding trials to test hypotheses related to parasite-mosquito evolution. She is also examining field data to explore patterns in the distribution of avian malaria lineages in their mosquito hosts. Her research combines her interests in disease ecology, birds, and phylogeography.
Mari received her undergraduate degree in English from Columbia University and a MA in Biology from San Francisco State University before coming to Cornell.
During those rare times that she is not in the lab or trying to write her thesis chapters, she enjoys hiking, cooking, horseback riding, wine tasting and salsa dancing.
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Rachel Hathaway joined the Harrington lab in the beginning of 2006. She has mastered many molecular techniques including: DNA and RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, PCR, and agarose gel electrophoresis.? She has also assisted in Ae. aegypti male accessory gland dissections.
Rachel is a senior Biological Sciences major in the College of Agriculture and Life Science from Delmar, NY. Her interest in research began after spending two summers in a cell biology and cancer research lab in Albany, NY. The lab investigated the regulation of macrophage phagocytic processes.
Rachel¡¯s primary career interests center on epidemiology and public health and she intends to attend medical school after she graduates. Rachel is president of the art club she founded, volunteers at Gannett Health Clinic doing peer education, and enjoys running and reading whenever she has time.
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Bianca Chang is a senior Biology major in the College of Arts & Sciences.? She is from Oak Park, California and joined the lab because she is interested in epidemiology and enjoys working with bugs.
During Fall 07 semester she carried out her own honors research project based on the collaborative work between the Harrington lab and the Wolfner lab. She investigated the impact of accessory gland proteins, of Ae. Aegypti, passed from the male to the female mosquito during mating.
At Cornell, Bianca is a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, treasurer of the Panhellenic Health Advisory Team, and is an Arts & Sciences Peer Advisor.She enjoys cooking, scrap booking, and people watching. You can find her wherever they serve a good latte.
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Peter Hashim
joined the Harrington lab in August 2006. He assisted in the identification of larvae collected in the Ithaca area as part of the KAP study conducted by Wieteke Tuiten.
Peter is a senior History major in the College of Arts and Sciences. During the Spring and Fall 2007 semesters, Peter will investigate larval competition between Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus under varying conditions of temperatures and food supply. Peter will assess the potential of Ae. albopictus to proliferate in New York State where Cx. pipiens are currently well established.
Peter has a strong interest in human diseases and public health and hopes to attend medical school after graduation.His hobbies include tennis and fishing. Peter¡¯s latest project will be learning ballroom dancing.
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Rekha Reddy is a senior Government major in the College of Arts and Sciences. She became interested in Medical Entomology due to her career goals in public health and health policy, and has been with the lab since June 2006. Rekha is excited to be learning new research skills and enjoys her time spent doing fieldwork. She also reports that since joining the lab, she has grown to like mosquitoes, even though they prefer to bite her over others.
When she¡¯s not in the lab, Rekha fills her spare time with Model United Nations, her sorority, and the Cornell Bhangra team. She also enjoys running, reading, cooking, sudoku puzzles, and catching up on sleep.
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Cristina Munk is a junior Entomology major who has been watching insects and other crawling creatures for as long as she can remember. She is interested in combining her love of medical entomology with public health outreach programs. She would like to travel to high-risk disease areas like Africa and meet the people of that region so educational programs can be designed that are effective in the local culture. In the meantime, she is helping with nutritional analyses of transgenic Aedes aegypti strains.
When she¡¯s not looking at insects, Cristina likes running around Ithaca, playing the flute (and any other instrument that wanders over), skiing, trying new sports and art forms, making friends and learning about new cultures.
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Terence Zimmermann is a senior Biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is from Muscle Shoals, Alabama and joined the Harrington Lab in February of 2007. Terence plans on attending medical school after graduation and wants to use his remaining time as an undergraduate to explore his interests in both epidemiology and entomology. Terence is a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and has also been actively involved in many disabilities awareness activities including Cornell Union for Disabilities Awareness. This past summer Terence joined Push America¡¯s Journey of Hope team, biking from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities.
In his free time Terence enjoys running, lifting, golf, fishing, skiing, camping, cooking, and David Sunflower seeds.
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Vanessa Scialabba is a junior Biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is from Cranston, Rhode Island. She joined the Harrington lab in May 2007 and is interested in all types of biology from public health to molecular biology to ecology. After graduation, she plans to attend graduate or medical school.
In her free time, Vanessa likes to spend time with friends and enjoy the outdoors, especially visiting the beach when she can. When she is not busy studying, she is active in her sorority and is secretary of the Biology Student Curriculum Council.
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Kaitlyn Van Arsdell is a senior Biological Sciences major with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She joined the lab in the summer of 2007 and was instrumental in the set up and execution of many experiments at the Quarantine mosquito facility. She has learned to estimate adult size of mosquitoes by measuring pupal size and the identification of GFP mosquitoes. In Fall 2007, Kaitlyn assist with the nutritional analysis of many mosquito samples. Outside the lab she is a member of the Mortal Board National Honor Society and the Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity. She is also involved in The Research Paper a semiannual magazine that highlights undergraduate research at Cornell.
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Lab Alumni
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