Multidisciplinary background including medical entomology, forensic genetics, and human health science, with research interests in both theoretical and empirical comparative metagenomics and microbial ecology. I currently explore the theoretical basis of diversity indices (alpha and beta), and multivariate analyses employed in understanding the dynamics of the interactions between disease vectors and their associated microbes. I believe that adequate treatment of data matrices, proper choice and combinations of ecological analyses methods are key to adequately interpreting the dynamics of the biological interaction between pathogens and the disease vector holobiont. My current research aims to test the niche construction hypothesis that female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes actively modify the microbial composition of their larval habitats to provide a favorable environment for the development of their progeny.