Biology subjects

Goldman, O. V.

Publications and source records attributed to Goldman, O. V..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A strong start for sustained success: inclusivity through a national group mentorship program for first-year graduate students

In the United States, STEM graduate programs and workforce do not represent the demographics of the population. Obstacles, including a lack of transparency, community, and accessible information in navigating academia, disproportionately affect students from underserved backgrounds. Peer mentoring networks can address these disparities. Here, we describe Cientifico Latino, Inc.s Graduate Student Engagement and Community (CL-GSEC) program, a nationwide, group-based peer mentorship program that has served first-year graduate students across the U.S., especially those from underserved backgrounds. Surveys indicate CL-GSEC positively impacts the first-year graduate experience. We highlight key program features, challenges, and insights, such as financial strains faced by first-year graduate students. We offer suggestions for how faculty and departments can better support students during this critical early stage of graduate training. We hope that reporting on CL-GSECs program structure, evaluations, and findings will guide educational leaders in expanding programming for junior graduate students.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

Mosquito Cell Atlas: A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito

The female Aedes aegypti mosquitos remarkable ability to hunt humans and transmit pathogens relies on her unique biology. Here, we present the Aedes aegypti Mosquito Cell Atlas, a comprehensive single-nucleus RNA sequencing dataset of more than 367,000 nuclei from 19 dissected tissues of adult female and male Aedes aegypti, providing cellular-level resolution of mosquito biology. We identify novel cell types and expand our understanding of sensory neuron organization of chemoreceptors to all sensory tissues. Our analysis uncovers male-specific cells and sexually dimorphic gene expression in the antenna and brain. In female mosquitoes, we find that glial cells in the brain, rather than neurons, undergo the most extensive transcriptional changes following blood feeding. Our findings provide insights into the cellular basis of mosquito behavior and sexual dimorphism. The Aedes aegypti Mosquito Cell Atlas resource enables systematic investigation of cell type-specific expression across all mosquito tissues.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2023

Cross-modal sensory compensation increases mosquito attraction to humans

Sensory compensation is a process that allows individuals with a loss of one sense, for instance hearing or vision, to adapt to changes in their sensory abilities. Where this phenomenon has been observed, there is enhanced perception by another sense to compensate for deficiency of the lost sense. Such compensation is important for humans and non-human animals that use multisensory integration for effective navigation and the execution of vital tasks. Among these, female mosquitoes are sensory specialists that rely heavily on integrating multiple human-emitted cues in their quest for a suitable host to obtain a blood meal. Here, we identify a previously undescribed mechanism of sensory compensation in female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Mutant mosquitoes lacking the odorant receptor co-receptor Orco show specific enhancement in heat-seeking behavior. This s compensation does not require the antenna, which was previously assumed to be the primary mosquito thermosensitive organ. Instead, we found that the tips of the forelegs are required to detect heat, and that the heightened sensitivity in heat detection is mediated by increased neuronal activity in foreleg sensory neurons, which are distant from the head appendage neurons that express Orco. By comparative gene expression analysis in wildtype and Orco mutant legs, we identify Ir140, a foreleg-enriched member of the Ionotropic Receptor (IR) superfamily of sensory receptors, as strongly upregulated in Orco mutant legs. Emphasizing the important role of IRs in thermosensation, we find that mutant mosquitoes lacking the IR co-receptor, Ir25a, lose all responses to heat, and Ir140 mutants show strong deficits in responding to human skin temperatures. We generated an Ir140, Orco double mutant and show that these animals lose the remarkable sensory compensation seen in Orco mutants. This strongly suggests that upregulation of Ir140 in the foreleg is the mechanism of sensory compensation in Orco mutants. Odorant receptor expression is sparse in legs, suggesting an indirect, long-range mechanism of sensory compensation. Our findings reveal a novel compensatory mechanism in which loss of one sensory modality in female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes results in greater sensitivity in another to maintain the overall effectiveness of their host-seeking behavior, further enhancing their status as the most dangerous predator of humans.

neuroscience↗