PhD Defence: Sam Boerlijst

Promotion time for One Health PACT PhD Sam Boerlijst! 🦟💧🐦‍⬛

On Tuesday, the 18th of March, Sam Boerlijst successfully defended his PhD thesis titled: ‘An Egg is Always an Adventure: anthropogenic impacts on Culex pipiens population dynamics’ at the Center for Environmental Sciences (CML) of Universiteit Leiden.

SCIENCE in 5 – Five key findings from Sam’s research:

🦟Science in 1 – Mosquitoes are important benefactors of anthropogenic change.

🦟 Science in 2 – Interactive effects between stressors are prevalent, highlighting the need to include multiple and combined stressors in ecological research.

🦟 Science in 3 – Including ecological realism by adding temporal fluctuations in stressors increases the accuracy of measured traits.

🦟 Science in 4 – The historical ecological context of tested populations informs us on when patterns may be extrapolated, or when additive research is required.

🦟 Science in 5 – Facilitating natural processes like predation may prove to be valuable interventions, by both limiting mosquito survival, and deterring colonization altogether.

Access Sam’s thesis via this link.

One Health approach

These PhD projects from the One Health PACT consortium explore the complex interplay between mosquitoes, viruses, ecosystems, and public health. Together, they provide new insights into disease dynamics, environmental drivers, and the neurological impact of mosquito-borne viruses, while also addressing how scientific knowledge can inform preparedness and policy. Collectively, the research exemplifies the power of a One Health approach to tackling emerging infectious diseases.