Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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Daily Overview |
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CP4.1: Cells, Molecules and Genes – Tribute to Bob Sinden - 10 min talks Location: Lecture Theatre 1 Session Chair: Alicja (Ala) Tabor, The University Of Queensland Session Chair: Alexander Gofton, CSIRO | |
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Developing Expansion Microscopy for Mosquitoes to Investigate the Biology of Mosquitoes and Mosquito-Transmitted Parasites 1: Adelaide University, School of Biological Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.; 2: Adelaide University, Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.; 3: The University of Melbourne, School of Biosciences, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.; 4: Adelaide University, College of Health, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.; 5: Adelaide University, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Light microscopy is the most widely used tool in the study of cell biology but many of the subcellular structures of parasites are too small to see even with the best light microscopes. Recently, a technique called expansion microscopy that physically enlarges parasites has revolutionised parasite cell biology. To date, expansion microscopy has only been applied on either parasites grown in vitro or from isolated host tissues. We wanted to perform expansion microscopy on whole mosquitoes, to simultaneously visualise the ultrastructure of both malaria parasites and their mosquito hosts, but the presence of the Chitin-rich mosquito cuticle prevents expansion. Here, we develop expansion microscopy for whole mosquitoes by first digesting the cuticle with enzymes. We validate that the mosquitoes expand as expected, show preservation of mosquito anatomy, and visualise it at exquisite detail. The application of this methodology allows for the co-visualisation of parasite and mosquito ultrastructure including microvilli, salivary glands, gut-microbiome and ovaries. Additionally, we have validated this technique for other arthropods: Ixodes holocyclus and Drosophila melanogaster, highlighting its versatility across arthropods. While developed to investigate cell biology, application of this technique could greatly improve the resolution of spatial omics techniques in the study of vector-parasite interactions. | |