Detail

Keywords

Entomology; Molecular Biology; Parasitology; Phylogeny; Phylogeography; Zoonoses

Research group(s)

• Molecular parasitology
  Head: Julia Walochnik
  Research Area: Acanthamoeba infections, amoebae as hosts for bacteria, vector-borne parasites, molecular phylogeny
  Members:
  Martina Köhsler
  Rounik Mazumdar
  Alvie Loufouma Mbouaka
  Julia Walochnik
  Edwin Kniha
  Ursula Fürnkranz
  Iwona Lesiak-Markowicz

Research interests

My current research interests include the clarification of the current and prospective distribution of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) in Austria and their relevance as vectors of the protozoan parasites Leishmania spp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the causative agents of leishmaniasis. Furthermore, I am interested in up-to-date topics and questions of medical entomology.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

My expertise comprises morphological and molecular identification of medically relevant arthropods, light- and fluorescence microscopy. PCR and in-house Sanger sequencing.

Phylogenetic analysis including sophisticated handling of various softwares (ClustalX, GeneDoc, MEGAX, BEAST, DNAsp, Popart).

Grants

• Climate Monitoring and Decision Support Framework for Sand Fly-borne Diseases Detection and Mitigation with COst-benefit and Climate-policy Measures - CLIMOS (2022)
  Source of Funding: EU, Horizon Europe
  Principal Investigator
• Vector-borne diseases in the Einsatzgebieten des Österreichischen Bundesheeres: Kosovo und Bosnien und Herzegowina (BIH) (2021)
  Source of Funding: FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency), FFG FORTE
  Principal Investigator
• Phylogeography of Austrian sand fly populations - where do they come from and where will they go? (2019)
  Source of Funding: OeAW (Austrian Academy of Sciences), DOC-fellowship
  Principal Investigator

Selected publications

1. Hoxha, I. et al. (2025) ‘First Detection of West Nile Virus (WNV) Lineage 2 in Mosquitoes in the Republic of Kosovo’, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. Edited by S. Samrat, 2025(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1155/tbed/3208806.
2. Platzgummer, K. et al. (2025) ‘Updating the distribution of sand flies in Hungary with implications on their biology and ecology’, Current Research in Parasitology & Vector-Borne Diseases, 8, p. 100293. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpvbd.2025.100293.
3. Kniha, E. et al. (2025) ‘Combining phylogeography and climate models to track the diversification and spread of Phlebotomus simici’, Scientific Reports, 15(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94601-1.
4. Trájer, A.J., Walochnik, J. and Kniha, E. (2023) ‘The possible region of the Late Miocene split of the sandfly subgenus Transphlebotomus Artemiev and the early late Neogene to late Quaternary dispersal of the ancestor of Phlebotomus mascittii Grassi’, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 103(3), pp. 545–567. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-022-00570-y.
5. Kniha, E. et al. (2023) ‘Reconstructing the post-glacial spread of the sand fly Phlebotomus mascittii Grassi, 1908 (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Europe’, Communications Biology, 6(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05616-1.