Matthew DeGennaro

Matthew DeGennaro (born 1975) is an American scientist who seeks to identify mosquito olfactory receptors used in human detection and formulate new volatiles that can effectively disrupt mosquito behavior. DeGennaro is credited with generating the first mutant mosquito utilizing zinc finger nucleases, and he is now working on formulating a “life saving perfume” that can deter these vectors for disease. He has been published in Nature, Developmental Cell, Current Biology, PLOS Genetics, and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

For five months in 2000, DeGennaro continued his HCN ion channel studies as a research associate under Gareth Tibbs in the Department of Pharmacology at Columbia University.

In August 2002, DeGennaro enrolled at the New York University School of Medicine to pursue his PhD. DeGennaro was trained to be a Drosophila geneticist, like his mentor, and researched the connection between reactive oxygen species and the regulation of E-Cadherin, an adhesion molecule.

Career After conducting developmental genetics research, DeGennaro shifted his studies back toward neurobiology. DeGennaro graduated in May 2008 and acquired a position in Leslie B. Vosshall's Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior at The Rockefeller University. DeGennaro also determined molecular mechanisms that could be targeted to control mosquito behavior, as well as generated a neurotranscriptome of Aedes aegypti. He studied the olfactory and contact-mediated impacts of DEET on mosquito repellency, as well as investigating host preference and discrimination in Aedes aegypti. DeGennaro discovered that orco mutants had dampened responses to odors, such as nectar, in the absence of carbon dioxide; but, when carbon dioxide was present, host attraction was recovered in mutants. Research concerning the IR8 pathway in Aedes aegypti revealed that the mosquitoes could still sense carbon dioxide and heat emitted by hosts, but they were unable to detect acidic volatiles, specifically lactic acid. This demonstrated that the IR8 pathway is necessary for host detection, as well as helped to understand the mosquito's "olfactory code", which consists of carbon dioxide, odor and acidic volatile detection. In 2019, “Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Detect Acidic Volatiles Found in Human Odor Using the IR8a Pathway,” was published in Current Biology, as well as covered in The New York Times.

Selected publications Barredo, E & DeGennaro, M. (2020) Not just from blood: Mosquito nutrient acquisition from nectar sources. Trends in Parasitology Melo., N., Wolff, G., H., Costa-da-Silva, A., L., Arribas, R., Triana, M., F., Gugger, M., Riffell, J., A., DeGennaro M., & Stensmyr, M. C. (2020) Geosmin attracts Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to oviposition sites. Current Biology 30; 1–8. Onyango, M., Payne, A., Mathias, N., Kuo, L., Vigneron, A., DeGennaro, M., Ciota, A., & Kramer, L. (2020) Increased temperatures reduce the vectorial capacity of Aedes mosquitoes for Zika virus. Emerging Microbes & Infections 9 (1); 67–77. Raji, JI, Gonzalez, S, and DeGennaro, M. (2019) Aedes aegypti Ir8a mutant female mosquitoes show increased attraction to standing water. Communicative & Integrative Biology 12:1, 181–186. Raji, J., Melo, N., Castillo, J., Gonzalez, S., Saldana, V., Stensmyr, M., & DeGennaro, M. (2019) Aedes aegypti mosquitoes detect acidic volatiles in found human odor sing the IR8a Pathway. Current Biology. Flora, P., Schowalter S., Wong-Deyrup, S., DeGennaro M., Ali Nasrallah M., & Rangan P. (2018) Transient transcriptional silencing alters the cell cycle to promote germline stem cell differentiation in Drosophila. Dev. Biology 434; 84–95. Joshua I. Raji & DeGennaro, M. (2017) Genetic analysis of mosquito detection of humans. Curr. Opin. Ins. Sci. 20, 34–38. Matthews, B., McBride, C., DeGennaro, M., Despo O. & Vosshall, L. B. (2016) The neurotranscriptome of the Aedes aegypti mosquito. BMC Genomics 17:32. DeGennaro, M. (2015) The mysterious multi-modal repellency of DEET. Fly. 9:1, 45–51. DeGennaro, M., McBride, C., Seeholzer, L., Nakagawa, T., Dennis, E.J., Goldman, C., Jasinskiene, N., James, A. A., & Vosshall, L. B. (2013) orco mutant mosquitoes lose strong preference for humans and are not repelled by volatile DEET. Nature 498; 487–491.

Awards

College of Arts, Science, and Education Award for Research, 2019, Florida International University College of Arts, Science, and Education Award for Teaching, 2019, Florida International University FIU-HHMI Faculty Scholar 2018–19, Florida International University & Howard Hughes Medical Institute FIU-HHMI Faculty Scholar 2017–18, Florida International University & Howard Hughes Medical Institute Top Scholar Award, 2017, Florida International University Community Engagement Award, 2017, Florida International University, College of Arts, Sciences & Education Community Engagement Award, 2016, Florida International University, College of Arts, Sciences & Education Career Development Award, 2012, The Rockefeller University Gender Studies Award, 1996, Bard College