Benjamin P. Gregory

PhD Candidate, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland

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Department of Entomology

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

I am a PhD candidate in Megan Fritz’s lab in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland, defending in spring 2027. I use population and landscape genomics to study how disease-vector mosquitoes adapt to their environment.

My dissertation maps environmentally-structured adaptation across the Culex pipiens assemblage — the principal West Nile virus vectors in eastern North America — using whole-genome Pool-seq along paired temperature and urbanization gradients in the Baltimore–Washington corridor. I am particularly interested in adaptive introgression: how alleles that move between lineages, including a cluster of CYP6 detoxification genes, help these mosquitoes track climate and urban landscapes. Alongside the genomics I run thermal-tolerance experiments and community-level surveillance work that connect vector ecology to transmission risk.

I am currently applying for postdoctoral positions in evolutionary and vector genomics. The best way to reach me is by email.

selected publications

  1. In prep
    Adaptive introgression along temperature and urbanization gradients in a metropolitan Culex pipiens hybrid zone
    B. P. Gregory and M. L. Fritz
    In preparation, target: Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2026
  2. Submitted
    Climate and urbanization structure West Nile virus vector communities: Tools for surveillance under environmental change
    B. P. Gregory, A. Arsenault-Benoit, P. Irwin, and 4 more authors
    Ecological Applications (submitted). Co-first authorship, shared with A. Arsenault-Benoit. , 2026
  3. J. Med. Entomol.
    Stage-specific divergence in larval thermal tolerance among populations of the Culex pipiens Assemblage
    B. P. Gregory, H. Aronson, C. Vinauger, and 2 more authors
    Journal of Medical Entomology, 2026
    DOI Bib