Our paper on viruses in wild Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes was recently published in Virology and is one of several articles higlighted in its issue. We had the opportunity to write a blog post on Virology Highlights Blog , (motto: 'Chosen by editors / Written by researchers'). It was fun to write about the paper in a less formal than usual context and to explain some of the back story and challenges we faced..

There are several additional reasons that I am happy about the publication of this paper. First, it's my first 'last author' paper, which, I guess, means I'm in charge!?! Second, it is a product of our lab's growing connections with the other labs in the AIDL. I am truly excited about the opportunity to be part of this fantastic group and it was great to work with the Ebel, Foy, and Brackney labs here. Finally, this publication spawned some exciting follow-up projects that we are pursuing. Keep tuned for developments on that front.

An anopheline mosquito (image credit: CDC)