Many people see mosquitoes as a pest, but the work of one researcher could have them saving lives.

Lyric Bartholomay, assistant professor of entomology, is working to not only understand the complexity of an insect’s immune system, but to compare the information she finds with the defense system in humans.

Bartholomay joined the ISU entomology department in 2005 as an assistant professor and has worked her way up to being the principal investigator in the Medical Entomology laboratory.

Bartholomay has been studying mosquitoes since graduate school. She has also studied antimicrobial peptides, small proteins activated in mosquitoes with infections. She is focused on finding out if these proteins in mosquitoes that fight infection could provide insight on how to treat diseased humans.

Her research on a variety of mosquitoes and other insects will continue.

“Science is an ongoing process,” she said. “It never ends.”

Bartholomay’s most recent research was a group study. She worked along side 35 other international experts in entomology to see how a mosquito responds to infection. The 35 international experts studied three different organisms – the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a malaria-carrying mosquito from Africa called Anopheles gambiae, and a mosquito named Aedes aegypti that infects 50 million people each year with dengue fever.

All of the researched mosquitoes had different ways of dealing with their infections. For example, Bartholomay said the mosquitoes, although all in the same family, have very different tendencies and spread very different viruses. Although one mosquito spreads multiple deadly viruses, another in its family may only spread one. Bartholomay is looking closely to find differences and to understand what that really means.

After comparing the evolution of these three insects, scientists can then see how the mosquitoes’ evolution has progressed. The information from all three studied mosquitoes can then be used to finally start being active in finding cures for humans who have similar transmitted diseases.

Bartholomay said many organisms can be linked together by at least one similarity. Therefore, insects and humans can be linked together. Insects and humans both have certain cells that act like a “Pac-Man” and eat up serious pathogens.

Bartholomay said when pathogens get into a mosquito, the mosquito’s immune system recognizes it right away, and then responds to it. Human immune systems go through the same process, but need to recognize the infection first before they can respond. Scientific research can help figure out how to allow humans to fight off such infections.

“The insect response is primitive and might help us understand human responses,” she said.

Bettering the initial response to pathogens in humans and then finding a way to treat these pathogens more successfully may allow for a quicker recovery of our immune system.

Bartholomay and her colleagues are continuing their research on this subject and others through the summer.

Ashley Bienemann, junior in biology-agriculture, said research in all areas of entomology continues to be important and is an area of study with a strong future. By following Bartholomay’s research, she can see insects are key to understanding the human immune system, which may help in the medical world. Other research projects she has been working on in the entomology department show similar successes that are beneficial to people, other insects and more.

Her own studies and labs have given her insight into how insects can really help. Currently she is studying the brain of house flies – research that could potentially be used to understand the human brain, just as Bartholomay used a mosquito’s immune system to understand the human immune system.

“Research studies in entomology are getting even better. In the future, entomology research will have so much to offer and I know I will be able to have a great job,” she said.