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Clement Vinauger

@thevinaugerlab

Associate Professor, Biochemistry Dpt & School of Neuroscience at Virginia Tech. Disease vector insects, medical entomology, neuroethology, mosquitoes.

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29.11.2023
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Latest posts by Clement Vinauger @thevinaugerlab

@vtbiochemistry.bsky.social @virginiatech.bsky.social

22.01.2026 12:23 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Temporal synchrony between human odor rhythms and mosquito olfactory preference shapes host attraction For anthropophilic mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti, aligning host-seeking with human availability enhances foraging efficiency and reproductive success. Although time of day modulates mosquito activity and olfactory sensitivity, it remains unknown whether human hosts display rhythmic changes in odor cues and whether mosquitoes adjust their sensory responses accordingly. Here, we combine chemical, behavioral, genetic, and transcriptomic approaches to reveal that both mosquitoes and their human hosts in this interaction are temporally synchronized. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed systematic daily shifts in human body odor composition between morning and evening. Correspondingly, mosquitoes prefer host odors that match their own active phase, a time-specific preference abolished in timeless mutants and under constant darkness. Silencing the timeless gene further induced an aversion for the host scent under light-dark conditions. Transcriptomic analysis of mosquito heads and antennae uncovered rhythmic expression of sensory and neuromodulatory genes, driven by both circadian and light-dark cycles and which peaks during mosquitoes' active periods, with rhythmic co-expression networks collapsing in timeless knockouts. Together, these results show that mosquito attraction to humans is temporally tuned by the interplay of host odor rhythms and mosquito sensory rhythms, revealing a previously unrecognized form of interspecific temporal synchronization in vector-host interactions. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Institutes of Health, R01AI155785, R21AI166633, R01AI148551 National Institute of Food and Agriculture, VA-160212

Check out this new preprint from the lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Lan Lou, @juliendevilliers.bsky.social, @karthikeyanc.bsky.social, @lahonderelab.bsky.social, the Tu Lab, and @joshuabenoit.bsky.social show that mosquito olfactory rhythms are synced with daily rhythms in how we smell.

22.01.2026 12:21 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

If you are attending #EntSoc25 in Portland, Check out the work of Sydney Luff and @mdessart.bsky.social who are representing the lab at the meeting!

10.11.2025 22:57 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Excited to see this story published from a great collaboration and support from the Global Change Center at @virginiatech.bsky.social @vtbiochemistry.bsky.social

06.11.2025 23:01 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Agrawal lab logo. A fly in the UBC colors, with dots framing its body.

Agrawal lab logo. A fly in the UBC colors, with dots framing its body.

The Agrawal lab is moving! This January we will be setting up shop at #UBC in Vancouver, in the department of #Zoology! We are actively recruiting at all levels, especially masters and PhD students. These position are #funded! Please send anyone interested my way!

01.10.2025 18:59 πŸ‘ 112 πŸ” 45 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 4
Redirecting

New paper from the lab! When a mosquito ingests blood, the phagocytic activity of hemocytes increases with warmer environmental temperature and aging @vanderbilt.edu @vuartsci.bsky.social @evolutionvu.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ji...

30.09.2025 18:37 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Adaline Bisese, recipient of a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, represented the lab and @vtbiochemistry.bsky.social at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium yesterday. Stay tuned for exciting results on how mosquitoes choose where to land on our bodies!

01.08.2025 14:03 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This work is the result of a multi year effort in collaboration with @lahonderelab.bsky.social , Lauren Childs, Michael Robert, James Weger-Lucarelli and their students, from @vtbiochemistry.bsky.social VT Mathematics and the Vet School at @virginiatech.bsky.social

24.06.2025 10:02 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

🚨New preprint from the lab! Work led by our talented former postdoc @karthikeyanc.bsky.social where we show that incomplete larval control can make things worse by producing bigger and meaner adult mosquitoes that are more efficient vectors of Zika. See thread below www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

24.06.2025 09:55 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Thermal tolerance of Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs is associated with urban adaptation and human interactions Climate change will profoundly affect mosquito distributions and their ability to serve as vectors for disease, specifically with the anticipated incr…

Interesting study! How the thermal tolerance of Aedes mosquito eggs varies depending on urbanisation - shows how critical developmental periods can facilitate adaptation to novel environments. Work from Souvik Chakraborty, @joshuabenoit.bsky.social & others www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... πŸ§ͺ

17.06.2025 09:49 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Same.

04.04.2025 08:14 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The lab is super excited to welcome @juliendevilliers.bsky.social as a new postdoc! Stay tuned for studies to come on mosquito olfactory rhythms and chemical ecology. @vtbiochemistry.bsky.social @vtcals.bsky.social

27.03.2025 15:55 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Woohhoo!!! Congrats!

25.02.2025 22:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Everyone who ever got funding through NIAID should be aware of this bill and start sending messages to their US legislators. The bill intends to dissolve NIAID. This is Project 2025
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

22.02.2025 21:38 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 86 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 5

Giving Day is almost there! Initiatives around Global Climate Change need more support than ever! Please consider donating to the @globalchangevt.bsky.social tomorrow!

18.02.2025 21:04 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Google maps screenshot of the Drake passage between South America and Antarctica

Google maps screenshot of the Drake passage between South America and Antarctica

If we’re renaming bodies of water based on petty grievances, I propose that this be renamed the Kendrick Lamar passage.

12.02.2025 10:06 πŸ‘ 15107 πŸ” 2480 πŸ’¬ 222 πŸ“Œ 157
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Prolonged exposure to heat enhances mosquito tolerance to viral infection Communications Biology - Single versus multi-generational exposure to increased temperature alters mosquito immune response to viral infection, with implications for mosquito-virus interactions...

Do you want to know if global warming will impact how mosquito respond to viral infection? check our latest publication in Communications Biology rdcu.be/d8wse

04.02.2025 09:45 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Climate Learn how NSF invests in research to understand the Earth's climate, including climate change and its impacts on nature and society.

turns out several climate-change based NSF programs have been archived.

new.nsf.gov/focus-areas/...

01.02.2025 21:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders Information for the NSF community regarding executive orders.

new.nsf.gov/executive-or...

29.01.2025 01:22 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Well done!

29.01.2025 21:12 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Today at #scib2025, our lab tech Spruha Rami presented her exciting work recording the neural activity of the antennal lobe during mosquito sleep! Stay tuned for more from this work!

05.01.2025 18:17 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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attn #SICB2025! a tech from my lab, Wayne Kuo, will be presenting a poster on fly landing! Find out how flies use mechanosensory info to decide when and how to land. Now soliciting names for our assay...we're currently calling it the Hokie Pokie

P4-67 on Tues Jan 7, part of "Flying and vision"

05.01.2025 15:15 πŸ‘ 41 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 1

I created a starter pack highlighting Women in the field of Disease Vector Biology and Ecology: go.bsky.app/E7wuQus Please share and let me know if you’d like to be added! 🦟🦠πŸͺ°

10.12.2024 15:28 πŸ‘ 73 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 1

Congratulations!!

13.12.2024 02:06 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The lab is super excited to welcome @mdessart.bsky.social as a new postdoc fellow! Stay tuned for the work to come on mosquito sensory ecology and chronobiology. Welcome, Martin!

13.12.2024 02:01 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you!

25.11.2024 11:51 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Hi Lena, could I please join? Thank you!

23.11.2024 12:48 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Great to see our former postdoc β€”now Assist. Prof. @ UC Riverside β€” Karthikeyan Chandrasegaran at the ESA meeting in Phoenix, AZ! His lab is recruiting at the graduate level. Reach out if you’re interested!

13.11.2024 15:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

And the companion study on Aedes aegypti led by
the Benoit Lab is now available:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

20.03.2024 16:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0