This episode features Dr. Laura Duvall, whose research tracks the molecular mechanisms that govern mosquito behavior, focusing on the intersection of neuropeptide signaling and GPCR function. Dr. Duvall discusses her lab’s work dissecting how GPCRs—especially neuropeptide Y (NPY) receptors—regulate innate behaviors such as blood feeding and mating in Aedes aegypti. She shares approaches that combine genetic manipulation (CRISPR-Cas9) and functional behavioral assays, including high-throughput and video-based methods, to reveal these receptors’ roles.
The conversation explores translational implications, such as leveraging conserved GPCR pathways to inhibit pathogen transmission, highlighting unexpected links between mosquito and human gut-brain signaling.
Dr. Duvall emphasizes the value of model systems and cross-species discoveries in GPCR biology.
Listeners interested in GPCR drug discovery, functional assay development, or fluorescence-based assays in behavioral research are encouraged to explore more episodes of the Dr. GPCR Podcast and consider the expanded content on Dr. GPCR University.
Why This Matters?
How GPCR-mediated neuropeptide signaling dictates mosquito attraction to humans, directly impacting disease transmission.
Why the study of conserved receptor pathways enables the development of broadly effective, species-independent vector control strategies.
What functional and behavioral assays in mosquitoes reveal about the underlying diversity of GPCR signaling across taxa.
How dissecting receptor function in non-neuronal tissues uncovers new parallels to human gut-brain communication.
Who Should Listen?
This episode is essential for anyone advancing GPCR-targeted research in physiological or behavioral contexts.
If you often translate receptor mechanism findings from model organisms to human systems.
If you want to expand high-throughput or fluorescence-based assay strategies to non-traditional models.
If you are interested in how behavioral outcomes emerge from cell-type-specific GPCR expression and signaling dynamics.
If you are considering novel ways to connect molecular pharmacology with organismal phenotype, especially in vector biology or neurobiology.
About the Guest
Laura Duvall trained in biochemistry and behavioral biology at the University of Pennsylvania. During her PhD with Paul Taghert at Washington University in St. Louis, she investigated neuropeptide control of circadian behaviors in Drosophila, with a specific focus on how GPCR family members orchestrate brain clock cell function. As a postdoctoral researcher in Leslie Vosshall’s laboratory at Rockefeller University, Dr. Duvall pivoted to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, focusing on the molecular regulation of feeding and reproductive behaviors via neuropeptidergic GPCR signaling.
In 2019, Dr. Duvall established her laboratory at Columbia University, where she is part of the Department of Biological Sciences and the Zuckerman Institute. Recognized with the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in Neuroscience, and a Pew Scholarship, she continues to drive efforts to decode how evolutionarily conserved GPCR pathways modulate complex behavioral outcomes. Her research is consistently motivated by uncovering new biological connections that can bridge basic and translational science.
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