My name is Charlotte Linthout and I am working on vector competence studies as part of the One Health Pact project, which I joined in February 2020.

After my undergraduate in biotechnology in Belgium, and my masters in Molecular Biology of Parasites and Disease Vectors in Liverpool, UK, my interest in neglected tropical diseases and mosquito borne viruses grew stronger. Therefore, I chose this PhD project, focusing on vector competence studies in changing scenario’s. By conducting this research, I hope it will become clear what the potential risks are for the Netherlands in the future regarding mosquito-borne virus outbreaks.

Overall, I hope to achieve from this project to keep growing as a researcher by setting up my own experiments and to keep gaining knowledge on this subject. But more importantly, I hope that we, as one team, can work together to inform citizens about the risks of future mosquito-borne outbreaks and what the potential threats are for the public health in case native or invasive mosquito species show to be competent for important arboviruses.