Brian Lazzaro

Dr. Brian Lazzaro of Cornell University is a professor in the Department of Entomology. His research is focused on the evolutionary and functional genetics and immune defense in Drosophila, mosquitoes, and other insects for the past 20 years. Dr. Lazzaro’s research program encompasses multiple facets of host-pathogen interactions including 1) understanding the physiological and evolutionary constraints on immune defense, 2) pathogen infection strategies and virulence, 3) quantitative genetics of variation in immunity, 4) evolutionary molecular genomics of insect immunity, 5) linking genomic determinants of pathogens to infection phenotypes, and 6) population genomic and transcriptomic analyses of the malaria vectors An. funestus and An. gambiae. Dr. Lazzaro’s research investigating the mechanisms and evolutionary consequences of reproductive-immune trade-offs is currently supported on NIH funding (R01AI141385), and he serves as the program director for a T32 (AI145821) that is affiliated with the Cornell Institute of Host-Microbe Interactions and Disease that he is the founding director of. Dr. Lazzaro has a strong track record in mentoring undergraduates, staff, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior faculty. He has also served on the Executive Committees for Cornell’s Center for Immunology (2019-present) and Department of Entomology (2019-2023), was the Director of Graduate Studies for the Field of Entomology (2011-2014), and served on the Cornell Entomology Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (2020-2-23).