Profile of Nora J. Besansky.

Besansky is also developing moleculartoolswiththegoalofelucidatingpatternsof malaria vector movement, which is fundamental for disease control and population biology. Comparative Genomics Resources for Anopheles In 2003, with encouragement from Harvard University molecular biologist William Gelbart, Besansky began to write a white paper proposing the sequencing of a cluster of eight Anopheles malaria vectors, including multipleAn.gambiaecomplexmembers.Theproposal resulted in the funding of a pilot genome-sequencing project that she led: The National Human Genome ResearchInstitute-sponsoredsequencingofAn.gambiaeM and S, now considered separate species and named Anopheles coluzzii and An. gambiae sensu stricto,respectively. The genome sequencing enabled tracing 100 million years of anopheline vector evolution and helped elucidate Anopheles species complexes. 4 N. J. Besansky et al., Molecular phylogeny of the Anopheles gambiae complex suggests genetic introgression between principal malaria vectors. [Extracted from the article]