Christopher J. Potter

Associate Professor

443-287-4151

855 N. Wolfe Street
Rangos 431
Baltimore MD 21205


Neuroscience

The current research focus of my laboratory is investigating the olfactory system of Anopheles mosquitoes.

We have developed new strains of Anopheles mosquitoes, utilizing the Q-system we originally developed for use in Drosophila, to explore how living Anopheles mosquitoes respond to their olfactory environment. Current efforts are focused on exploring how insect repellents affect a mosquito’s sense of smell, from the neurons that are activated, to the receptors required, to the behaviors that are elicited. Other projects include (but are not limited to): investigating the dynamic regulation of mosquito odorant receptors, generating and characterizing knock-ins and mutants of mosquito olfactory receptors, and exploring biting behaviors.

We are always looking for motivated graduate students, so if any of the above sounds interesting, email me to learn more about the lab. Or visit our lab webpage in the link above!

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Raji JI, Potter CJ (2021). The number of neurons in Drosophila and mosquito brains. PLOS ONE 16(5): e0250381. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250381

Task, D, Potter, CJ (2021). Rapid degeneration of Drosophila olfactory neurons in Orco mutant maxillary palps. microPublication Biology. 10.17912/micropub.biology.000398

Konopka JK, Task D, Afify A, Raji J, Deibel K, Maguire S, Lawrence R, Potter CJ (2021). Olfaction in Anopheles mosquitoes. Chemical Senses, bjab021

Melo N, Capek M, Arenas OM, Afify A, Potter CJ, Laminette PJ, Para A, Gallio M, Stensmyr MC (2021). The irritant receptor TRPA1 mediates the mosquito repellent effect of catnip. Current Biology. 2021; 31:1-7

Marr E, Potter CJ (2021). Base editing using CRISPR/Cas9 in Drosophila. bioRxiv 2021.03.24.436868

Task D, Lin C-C, Afify A,  Li H, Vulpe A,  Menuz M, Potter CJ (2020). Widespread Polymodal Chemosensory Receptor Expression in Drosophila Olfactory Neurons. bioRxiv, Nov 8

Maguire SE, Afify A, Goff LA, Potter CJ (2020). A Feedback Mechanism Regulates Odorant Receptor Expression in the Malaria Mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. bioRxiv, July 24

Afify A and Potter CJ (2020). Insect Repellents Mediate Species-Specific Olfactory Behaviours in Mosquitoes. Malaria Journal. 19(1):127

Afify A, Betz JF, Riabinina O, Lahondère C, Potter CJ (2019). Commonly used insect repellents hide human odors from Anopheles mosquitoes. Current Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.007

Chin SG, Maguire SE, Huoviala P, Jefferis GSXE, Potter CJ (2018) Olfactory Neurons and Brain Centers Directing Oviposition Decisions in Drosophila.  Cell Reports 24, 1667-1678

Riabinina, O, Task, D, Marr, E, Lin, C-C, Alford R, O’Brochta, DA, Potter, CJ (2016) Organization of Olfactory Centers in the Malaria Mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Nature Communications 7, 1–12

Riabinina, O, Potter, CJ (2016) The Q-System: A Versatile Expression System for Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol. 1478:53-78

Lin, C-C, Potter, CJ (2016) Non-Mendelian Dominant Maternal Effects Caused by CRISPR/Cas9 Transgenic Components in Drosophila melanogaster.  G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics  Early Online September 16, 2016, doi: 10.1534/g3.116.034884

Lin, C-C, Potter, CJ (2016) Editing Transgenic DNA Components by Inducible Gene Replacement in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics  203(4) 1613-1628; DOI: 10.1534/genetics.116.191783

Riabinina, O., Luginbuhl, D., Marr, E., Liu, S., Wu, M.N., Luo, L., and Potter, CJ (2015) Improved and expanded Q-system reagents for genetic manipulations. Nature Methods, 12:219-222