I am a PhD student in the Davis Arbovirus Research and Training (DART) group studying the ecology of mosquito-borne viruses. The life cycle of these viruses is complex because they are transmitted between humans through a mosquito vector. While many factors can affect viral transmission from mosquito to human back to mosquito, we are beginning to realize that the mosquito microbiome plays a major role in this process. My project aims to understand how the microbes that a mosquito acquires from its environment shape its vector competence, the ability to of a mosquito to become infected by and transmit pathogens, using Zika virus as a model.