administrative responsibilities
- Director of Graduate Studies
Networks
Co-Authors
Co-Investigators
Map Of Science
Lazzaro, Brian
Cornell Faculty Member
Close
Positions
- Associate Professor, Entomology (ENTOM), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS)
My research program is focused on the evolutionary and quantitative genetics of insect-pathogen interactions.
Research Areas
Websites
- Affiliations
- Research
- Publications
- Teaching
- Service
- Background
- Other
- View All
Affiliations
member of graduate field
other Cornell affiliations
advisory group member
Research
research overview
- My work is focused on the evolutionary genetics of insect-pathogen interactions. Projects in my lab include population genomic and molecular evolutionary analysis of insect immune systems and quantitative genetic study of differences in immune performance among individuals in a population. We seek to identify the genes responsible for individual differences in resistance or susceptibility to infection and environmental factors that influence defense. We are determining how genotype and environment interact to shape defense traits, and how seemingly distinct physiological processes are genetically linked and may constrain each other. We are especially interested in the effects of dietary nutrition and metabolism, gut microbiological communities, and reproductive status on immune performance. We use molecular tools and genomic analysis in our research.
research activities
principal investigator on
- EVOLUTIONARY GENOMICS OF AN ANTI-MALARIA GENES IN MOSQUITO awarded by NATL INST OF HEALTH DHHS 2008 - 2013
- EVOLUTIONARY GENOMICS OF ANTI-MALARIA GENES IN MOSQUITO awarded by NATL INST OF HEALTH DHHS 2006 - 2012
- GENETIC NETWORK LINKING IMMUNITY TO ENERGETIC STRESS AND METABOLISM awarded by NATL INST OF HEALTH DHHS 2011 - 2016
- GENETIC NETWORK LINKING IMMUNITY TO ENERGETIC STRESS, METABOLISM AND REPRODUCTION: ARRA FUNDING awarded by NATL INST OF HEALTH DHHS 2009 - 2012
co-principal investigator on
- FUNCTIONAL AND COMPARATIVE GENOMICS OF DROSOPHILA IMMUNITY awarded by NATL INST OF HEALTH DHHS 2012 - 2017
keywords
- Drosophila
- Providencia
- Serratia
- antibacterial defense
- bacteria
- disease
- evolution
- health
- insect immunity
- malaria
- microbiota
- mosquito
- nutrition
- population genetics
- quantitative genetics
- reproduction
submitted impact statement
Publications
individual publications
-
academic article
- Assessing the accuracy and power of population genetic inference from low-pass next-generation sequencing data.. Frontiers in Evolutionary and Population Genetics. 3:66. 2012
- Comparative genomics of bacteria in the genus Providencia isolated from wild Drosophila melanogaster.. BMC Genomics. 13:612. 2012
- Evidence for population-specific positive selection on immune genes of Anopheles gambiae.. Genes, Genomes, Genetics. 2:1505-1519. 2012
- Female Drosophila melanogaster suffer reduced defense against infection due to seminal fluid components.. Journal of Insect Physiology. 58:1192-1201. 2012
- No effect of Wolbachia on resistance to intracellular infection by pathogenic bacteria in Drosophila melanogaster.. PLoS One. 7. 2012
- Comparative pathology of bacteria in the genus Providencia to a natural host, Drosophila melanogaster. Microbes and Infection. 13:673-683. 2011
- Danger, microbes and homeostasis. Science. 332:43. 2011
- Exceptional diversity, maintenance of polymorphism, and recent directional selection on the APL1 malaria resistance genes of Anopheles gambiae. PLoS Biology. 9. 2011
- Potential for evolutionary coupling and decoupling of larval and adult immune gene expression. Molecular Ecology. 20:1558-1567. 2011
- Female and male genetic contributions to female post-mating susceptibility to infection in Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 277:3649-3657. 2010
- Genotype and gene expression associations with immune function in Drosophila. . PLoS Genetics. 6. 2010
- Larval food quality affects adult (but not larval) immune gene expression independent of effects on general condition. . Molecular Ecology. 12:1462-1468. 2010
- Population genetics of Eater, a recognition molecule that promotes phagocytosis within the cellular immune response in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 27:2284-2299. 2010
- The demographic histories of the molecular forms of Anopheles gambiae s.s. . Molecular Biology and Evolution. 27:1739-1744. 2010
- Immunity in a variable world. Philosopical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 364:15-26. 2009
- Providencia sneebia sp. nov. and P. burhodogranariea sp. nov., novel species isolated from wild Drosophila melanogaster.. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 59:1108-1111. 2009
- The effect of three environmental conditions on the fitness of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase-mediated permethrin resistance in Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 9:42. 2009
- Anopheles gambiae APL1 is a family of variable LRR proteins required for Rel1-mediated protection from the malaria parasite, Plasmodium berghei. PLoS One. 3. 2008
- Fruit flies love a (rotten) banana. Fly. 2:159-164. 2008
- Genotype by environment interactions and adaptation to local temperature affect immunity and fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS Pathogens. 4. 2008
- Natural Selection on the Drosophila innate immune system. Current Opinion in Microbiology. 11:284-289. 2008
- The evolutionary costs of immunological maintenance and deployment. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 8:76. 2008
- Dynamic evolution of the Drosophila innate immune system. Nature Genetics. 39:1461-1468. 2007
- Disease Pathology: Wasting energy fighting infection. Current Biology. 16. 2006
- Frequencies of the pyrethroid resistance alleles of Vssc1 and CYP6D1 in house flies from the eastern United States. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 15:157-167. 2006
- Genetic variation in Drosophila melanogaster resistance to infection: a comparison across bacteria. Genetics. 174:1539-1554. 2006
- DNA sequence polymorphism and divergence at the erect wing and suppressor of sable loci of Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. Genetics. 170:1153-65. 2005
- Elevated polymorphism and divergence in the class C scavenger receptors of Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. Genetics. 169:2023-34. 2005
- Molecular genetics of mosquito resistance to malaria parasites. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 295:383-415. 2005
- Genetic basis of natural variation in D. melanogaster antibacterial immunity. Science. 303:1873-6. 2004
- Molecular population genetics of genes encoding inducible antibacterial peptides in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 20:914-23. 2003
- fRFLP and fAFLP: Medium-throughput genotyping by fluorescently post-labeling restriction digestion. Biotechniques. 33:539-46. 2002
- Evidence for recurrent paralogous gene conversion and exceptional allelic divergence in the Attacin genes of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 159:659-671. 2001
- Contrasting patterns of nucleotide polymorphism at the Alcohol Dehydrogenase locus in the outcrossing Arabidopsis lyrata and the selfing Arabidopsis thaliana. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 17:645-55. 2000
- Linkage disequilibria and the site frequency spectra in the su(s) and su(wa) regions of the Drosophila melanogaster X chromosome. Genetics. 156:1837-52. 2000
- Y chromosomal fertility factors kl‐2 and kl‐3 of D. melanogaster encode dynein heavy chain polypeptides. Proceedings at the National Academy of Science USA. 97:13239-13244. 2000
-
chapter
- Rapid evolution of innate immune response genes.. Rapidly Evolving Genes & Genetic Systems. 203-210. 2012
- The costs of immunity and the evolution of immunological defense mechanisms. Molecular Mechanisms of Life History Evolution. 2011
- Population genetics of insect immune responses. Insect Infection and Immunity. 2009
presentations
featured in archived article
speaker at Cornell event
Teaching
teaching overview
- I teach two primary courses. I am the sole instructor for Ecological Genetics (Entom 4700/BioEE 4800), a 4-credit course on the evolutionary genetics of natural populations. This course has 20 students enrolled in 2011. I am one of a handful of principal instructors for Evolution and Diversity (BioEE 2780), a 4- or 5-credit course teaching fundamental principles in evolutionary biology. This course has 250-300 students per semester. I additionally a for-credit journal club on Ecology and Evolution of Infection and Disease (Entom 6900/BioEE 6900).
teaching activities
- BIOEE-4800: Ecological Genetics - Spring 2013
- BIOEE-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-4700: Ecological Genetics - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral Level Thesis Research - Spring 2013
- BIOEE-1780: An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity - Fall 2012
- BIOEE-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral Level Thesis Research - Fall 2012
- BIOEE-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral Level Thesis Research - Spring 2012
- BIOEE-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-6900: Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-8900: Master's-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2011
Service
service to the profession
- Genetic Society of America Member 1997 -
- Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Symposium Organizer, Annual Society Meeting 2010
- AI-SPER-0203DF692AB0001088A Organizer 2009 - 2010
- AI-SPER-0203DF692AB00010876 Program Organizer - 2010
- Sarkaria Institute of Insect Physiology and Toxicology -- Diptera Day Program Organizer - 2010
- National Association for the Advancement of Science Member 2004 - 2008
- AI-SPER-0203DF692AB00010999 Co-organizer 2008
- Workshop on “Immunity, Hematopoiesis, and Pathogenesis” at the 48th annual Drosophila Research Conference sponsored by the Genetics Society of America Co-organizer 2007
- Eastern Great Lakes Molecular Evolution Meeting. Hosted at Cornell University Co-organizer - 2004
- Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Member 1998 - 2003
reviewer or editor for
event host
Background
education and training
- Ph.D. in Biology, Pennsylvania State University 2002
- University of California, Davis 1995
awards and honors
- Early Career Achievement Award, 2012
- Provost's Award for Distinguished Scholarship, 2009
- Homer F. Braddock Award for Continuing Graduate Student, 2000
- National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2000
- Invitation to speak in the Walter Fitch Graduate Student Presentation Competition at the annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2000
- J. Ben and Helen D. Hill Award, 1999
- J. Ben and Helen D. Hill Award, Pennsylvania State University, 1998
- Homer F. Braddock Award for Incoming Graduate Student, 1997
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 1997
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute Graduate Research Fellowship (Honorable Mention), 1997
- Departmental Citation for Outstanding Research and Academics, 1995
- Regents Scholar, 1995
- Fulmor Scholar, 1995
Other
college
- CALS
research keyword
- Drosophila
- Providencia
- Serratia
- antibacterial defense
- bacteria
- disease
- evolution
- health
- insect immunity
- malaria
- microbiota
- mosquito
- nutrition
- population genetics
- quantitative genetics
- reproduction
name prefix
- Professor