Steven Sinkins
Professor
Department of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation
University of Glasgow
United Kingdom
Biography
Steven Sinkins is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation
Research Interest
Mosquitoes transmit some of the world’s most serious infections; epidemic viral diseases such as dengue impose huge health burdens across the tropics. Effective vaccines are not available for most mosquito-borne pathogens, and control of the mosquito vectors has long been a focus of disease prevention. 
 Wolbachia are inherited intracellular bacteria that can manipulate host insect reproduction, especially by inducing patterns of sterility known as cytoplasmic incompatibility, allowing population invasion. It occurs naturally in many mosquito species, and certain introduced strains have been found to strongly inhibit the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue and Zika. We are interested in how this inhibition occurs, how it can be used in disease control, and how Wolbachia manipulate their hosts.

Publications
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Molloy, J. C., Sommer, U., Viant, M. R. and Sinkins, S. P. (2016) Wolbachia modulates lipid metabolism in Aedes albopictus mosquito cells. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 82(10), pp. 3109-3120.
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Sinkins, S. P. (2016) Yob makes mosquitoes male. Science, 353(6294), pp. 33-34.
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Geoghegan, V., Stainton, K., Rainey, S. M., Ant, T. H., Dowle, A. A., Larson, T., Hester, S., Charles, P. D., Thomas, B. and Sinkins, S. P. (2017) Perturbed cholesterol and vesicular trafficking associated with dengue blocking in Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti cells. Nature Communications, 8, 526.
