Laura Harrington

Laura Harrington became interested in global health issues and vector-borne diseases after living and working for several years in rural Thailand. She contracted both dengue and malaria while living abroad and realized the impact these infections have on children and adults in resource-poor nations. Professor Harrington’s research focuses on the biology, ecology, and behavior of mosquitoes that transmit human diseases. Current research projects in her laboratory address the blood feeding and mating behavior of mosquito vectors of dengue fever, Zika, chikungunya, West Nile virus, and malaria. She also studies human- and animal-mosquito interactions as well as the role of climate change and globalization on emerging vector-borne diseases. Professor Harrington studies mosquito biology in the field locally as well as abroad, with past or present field sites in Thailand, Tanzania, and Mexico, and she is active in extension and outreach activities in New York and the northeastern United States. She teaches and mentors undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of entomology, ecology and evolutionary biology, comparative biomedical sciences, biomathematics, general biology, animal science, and biology and society. Professor Harrington has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and three scientific book chapters; many of these have focused on the biology and behavior of Aedes disease vectors. Her research has been supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USDA, and Centers for Disease Control.