Japan STA Program: Overwintering Ability of the Aedes Mosquitoes This award will provide supplementary support to enable Dr. Scott Hanson of the University of Notre Dame to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Mitsuo Takahashi for 24 months at Japan's National Institute of Health in Tokyo. Utilizing Dr. Hanson's method of testing mosquito eggs for their cold hardiness and Dr. Takahashi's expertise on Aedes mosquitoes, the team will study the developmental physiology and genetics of Aedes mosquitoes. The Aedes albopictus mosquito, a carrier and transmitter of dengue fever, Venezuelan Equine encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis, and many other Asian and New World diseases, was recently introduced to the North and South American Continents. Almost all efforts to control its spread in the Americas have been unsuccessful. In order to determine how far north in North America this mosquito can become es- tablished, it is important to study how hardy the eggs of this mosquito are in colder climates. Hanson and Takahashi plan to focus their research on the cold hardiness of different strains of Aedes albopictus and to genetically analyze the mode of inheritance of cold hardiness for this mosquito.
