Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith

@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Assoc. Prof at Iowa State. Vector biology and innate immunity. Lover of mosquitoes and tacos. Caffeine and history buff. Unlikely midwesterner. Thoughts are my own.

609 followers271 following54 posts

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Our latest work tracks the continued spread of Aedes albopictus 🦟in Iowa, now detected in at least 10 counties. Representing its northern range in the Midwest, this has broader implications for its continued spread in the US. academic.oup.com/jme/article/...

academic.oup.comContinued range expansion of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Iowa, United StatesAbstract. The mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) serves as a competent vector of several arboviruses, including dengue, chikungunya, an
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Join us! We're hiring a Research Scientist to support projects on mosquito immunity and mosquito‑borne disease transmission. Ideal for a post‑bac or recent M.S. looking to gain experience in cutting-edge research in vector biology. isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...

isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.comMosquito Research ScientistPosition Title: Mosquito Research Scientist Job Group: Professional & Scientific Required Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree Preferred Qualifications: Proficiency in molecular biology techn...
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

👀There will be a Keystone Symposium with a focus on Vector-Pathogen Interactions to be held in Geneva, Switzerland in February 2027. It should be a great meeting and hope to see you there! www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

keystonesymposia.orgVector-Pathogen Interactions: From Vector Biology to Innovative Control Strategies | Keystone SymposiaJoin us at the Keystone Symposia on Vector-Pathogen Interactions: From Vector Biology to Innovative Control Strategies, February 2027, in Geneva, with field leaders!
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Excited to contribute to this beautiful study led by @yukihaba.bsky.social and @lindymcbr.bsky.social!

Yuki Haba@yukihaba.bsky.social

How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities? Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation. 🧵(1/n) @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515

science.orgAncient origin of an urban underground mosquitoUnderstanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

I'm happy that I could contribute even a small part to this fantastic and monumental study! Huge shoutout to @oliviagoldman.net @nadavshai.bsky.social and @leslievosshall.bsky.social for their incredible leadership in organizing this massive project!

Olivia Goldman PhD@oliviagoldman.net

Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸 There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

cell.comA single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoA comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell types and widespread co-expres...
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Celebrating the holiday weekend with another bang! Our work describing roles of TNF signaling on mosquito immune cell function and in limiting malaria parasite infection is now published. Big shout out to @georgesaman.bsky.social and others for their contributions! journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

journals.plos.orgTNF signaling mediates cellular immune function and promotes malaria parasite killing in the mosquito Anopheles gambiaeAuthor summary Mosquito innate immunity is a major determinant of vector competence with significant implications in malaria transmission. During infection with the Plasmodium parasite, mosquitoes mou...

Ryan Smith reposted

brackneylab
@brackneylab.bsky.social

Despite all the shit going on, we have to celebrate our victories. New publication with @entomososwin.bsky.social and @vectorimmunity.bsky.social showing that hemocytes play a central role in disseminating flaviviruses to secondary tissues potentially functioning as a Trojan Horse(TBD) rdcu.be/euj4g

rdcu.beMosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegyptiNature Communications - Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus...
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Excited to share our latest collaborative work with @entomososwin.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social looking at the role of mosquito immune cells in virus infection. It turns out that these cells help disseminate virus infection, increasing the potential for virus transmission rdcu.be/euiZt

rdcu.beMosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus infection in Aedes aegyptiNature Communications - Infection of mosquito immune cells by dengue and Zika virus enhances the spread of virus infection to mosquito tissues, such as the salivary glands, to promote virus...

Ryan Smith reposted

Dr. Becca
@docbecca.bsky.social

This is a great explainer of just how much trouble NIH-funded scientists are about to be in. 😨

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social

New at Can We Still Govern: An anonymous NIH employee maps out the GOP budget gameplan to permanently gut our most important science agency. Impoundment, delay and red tape will create artificial "savings" that become the new benchmark for NIH budgets. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...

donmoynihan.substack.comThe NIH budget is on a fast track to disasterAn NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Does anyone have recommendations for a preferably free or low-cost software platform for cloning, plasmid design, and curation for the lab. I "grew up" scientifically with VectorNTI. Is SnapGene the best current option? Any other alternatives that you might recommend?

Ryan Smith reposted

Mother Jones
@motherjones.com

The cost-saving claims don’t hold up. Every dollar in NIH research grants generates $2.46 in economic activity, research shows—a total of $93 billion in 2023 alone. “It’s incredible to me that we would give up this thing that has such obvious societal benefits,” says biologist Mark Peifer.

motherjones.comAmerica will pay dearly for the NIH’s mindless war on wokeness and DEIColleges, businesses, patients, students, workers, and US excellence will all suffer—and for what?

Ryan Smith reposted

Jeremy Berg
@jeremymberg.bsky.social

Replying to @jeremymberg.bsky.social

The biggest hit to extramural program staff appears to be grants management specialists (GMSs). It appears that 15-20% of GMSs were terminated. This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Excited to share that I officially received my first R01 today! It's been a long road, one marked by persistence and several grants that narrowly missed the payline. Now to do all of the exciting work that we proposed! I will be hiring, so be on the lookout for job postings!

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

For the sake of transparency, this particular grant took four submissions and about 3 years to get it across the finish line: -Submission #1: 50th % -Submission #2: 26th % -Submission #3: 29th % -Submission #4: 12th %

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

New preprint from our collaboration with @perrimonlab.bsky.social in which we perform a genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles to identify essential mosquito genes and examine clodronate liposome function. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgA genome-wide CRISPR screen in Anopheles mosquito cells identifies essential genes and required components of clodronate liposome functionbioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

🚨Mosquito/fly tweeps🚨 Does anyone know of an alternative to E-RNAi? I/we have used that platform to design dsRNAs for more than 15 years and it appears as though the URL is no longer available. Any help would be much appreciated! TIA!

Ryan Smith reposted

Matt Aliota
@aliotalab.bsky.social

I unexpectedly have a position available in my laboratory. If you know anyone interested in relocating to the Twin Cities, tell them to get in touch. Could involve genomic surveillance, mosquito-virus interactions, and/or molecular virology.

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

For anyone attending #TropMed23, myself and others from the lab will be presenting some of our exciting unpublished work regarding mosquito immune cells and parasite/virus infection. Come and join us!

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

After enough experience, grant writing really becomes formulaic. Once you develop a "style", you can drop in any project in a relatively short period of time. Yet there is still no guarantee that reviewers will like a project...

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

As scientists, I think that we too often look for "what's wrong?" in a grant or paper instead of "what's right?" Research doesn't have to be perfect to make a significant advance in the field. Stop the gatekeeper mentality.

Ryan Smith
@vectorimmunity.bsky.social

Has anyone found an alternative to the Drummond Nanoject III? We now have three in the lab that don't work and face (expensive) repair. They only seem to have a shelf life of a few years. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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