Ticks and mosquitoes are well known as the most dangerous animals in the world. During the blood feeding, they can transmit a variety of pathogens (bacteria, virus, and protozoa) causing human diseases such as SFTS (severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome), malaria, Zika, and dengue. In Korea, SFTS is a newly emerging vector-borne disease transmitted by Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis. However, there are no effective methods to control ticks and tick-borne disease. The laboratory of medical entomology at Kyungpook national university is focusing on not only fundamental biology of hard ticks in Korea including life cycle and host ranges but molecular physiology and comparative transcriptomics to understand interactions between vector and pathogen at the molecular level. We are also focusing on molecular physiological mechanisms of mosquito salivary secretion by investigating the function of neuropeptides and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the salivary glands of Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. We believe that understanding the biology of blood feeding arthropods will lead us to the development of novel methods for the disruption of feeding, thus allowing for the prevention of pathogen transmission.

• Donghun Kim(Department of Applied Biology, Kyungpook National University)