These results highlight the need to integrate anthropogenic stressors with climatic drivers when predicting pest risk and optimizing control strategies.
I'm looking forward to sharing more of my work in this space in the near future!
Through a response-surface experiment on juvenile Aedes aegypti life history traits, we found that the interaction between temperature and insecticides can reshape pest population dynamics, rather than each acting as independent stressors.
🦟 New pre-print out!
“Insecticide temephos alters thermal dependence of dengue vector”
I’m very happy to share my first bioRxiv pre-print from my graduate studies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
My first research experience was assisting researchers at the Niwot Ridge LTER in the Colorado Rockies. The scientists I worked with there were passionate, kind, and dedicated. The LTER system has always been great people doing great research. It is unacceptable to shutter such a valuable network.
Also on Medium: pmheffernan.medium.com/could-the-sc...
Could the scrael from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss be real? I'd certainly like to think so.
open.substack.com/pub/hefferna...
As a side note, 2 years ago I also released a short story in this journal inspired by the stages of insect metamorphosis. After my reading, I got my favorite compliment I’ve ever received: “Oh! So, you’re like a real life bug guy!” 🦟🎉
I had so much fun sharing the biology of this extremely important pathogen group with our local community! I’m grateful to find people so excited to learn a little science alongside their fiction.
Viroids can cause over 50% yield loss in a wide variety of crops like potatoes, avocados, and palms, and they have caused billions of USD in economic loss across the globe.
Viroids are like viruses but much simpler. While viruses have a protective coat and machinery to replicate, viroids are just naked strands of RNA. They passively arrive in plant hosts after mechanical damage or through insect vectors, and then they hijack the host to do all the replicating for them.
Very grateful to have one of my short stories released in our local library journal today! This piece (an amalgamation of sci-fi, horror, and fantasy) is heavily inspired by my favorite type of pathogen: viroids.
“For the first time, governments and the public can see how serious dengue is in different parts of the world.” Oliver Brady, Professor of Spatial Epidemiology, LSHTM
📢 1st global “early warning system” for #dengue launches
New online dashboard gives governments & the public a real-time picture of global dengue situation for the first time.
#PublicHealth
www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...
30 years ago today, the world of vector biology lost George B. Craig, Jr., a leading expert on Aedes mosquitoes. At Notre Dame, I’m lucky enough to work in his insectaries and care for his books. Here are some of my reflections on his legacy that I’ve had here.
open.substack.com/pub/hefferna...
Loved Eric Ochomo’s call to action during the George B. Craig memorial lecture! Fighting vector-borne disease requires united, integrated, and bold actions now more than ever.
Had a blast presenting at and attending #PHAM2025!
I’m incredibly grateful to be funded through the NIH. Because of their support, I’m able to conduct research that helps fight mosquito-borne disease. The NIH funds countless researchers dedicated to helping improve human lives, and I hope they continue to give us that opportunity
Just got to present @eselland.bsky.social and I’s
Schistosomiasis lab project at ESA!
While I primarily work with mosquitoes now, learning about Schistosomiasis in undergrad parasitology was what convinced me to become a disease ecologist. Such a cool full circle moment for me!
Such a treat to get to see in person! It feels great to cross seeing a cicada-killer hunt off my entomology bucket list ✔️
The cicada-killer wasp had just stung the cicada and was waiting for paralysis to fully kick in. It will then carry the cicada back to its burrow where it will lay its eggs, and the cicada’s body will serve as food for the hatching larvae
While out walking, this pair of insects fell from the tree canopy and landed right in front of me!
I’m normally an Aedes guy, but I had a blast learning how to do Anopheles midgut and salivary gland dissections today with members of the @aacostaserrano.bsky.social lab today! They’re the best!
Another historic botanical garden in Varenna, Castello di Vezio, maintains artificial mini ponds full of mosquito predators as a means of ecological control. Very fun to see in action (and full of adorable snails, fish, and aquatic inverts)
Took a brief break from honeymooning to identify hundreds of Aedes albopictus larvae in a standing water basin at Villa Monastero in Varenna, Italy. Remember to drain or dump standing water!
Working on this project with @eselland.bsky.social and @rohrecologylab.bsky.social has been incredibly rewarding! Can’t wait to present on it further at ESA this fall 🐌
Thanks to everyone at @eeid2025.bsky.social for listening to me present our work yesterday on #schistosomiasis transmission across two ecological gradients! 🐌🪱 Excited to see how this project continues to take shape with @pmheffernan.bsky.social and the @rohrecologylab.bsky.social crew!
Turtles are out and rhododendrons in full bloom. Finally beginning to feel like a lovely summer 🐢☀️😁
Thank you @eselland.bsky.social and @scipolnotredame.bsky.social for organizing such a wonderful event! It was inspiring to be a part of a coalition of PhD students across Indiana advocating for research in our state
What an amazing day discussing my field with legislators at the state capitol! I focused my presentation on how and why the thermal performance of vectors and pathogens should inform interventions and control strategies against mosquito-borne diseases across Indiana 🦟
