Dr Luke Ambrose
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
School of the Environment
Researcher biography
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Vector Biology Lab in the School of the Environment. The main focus of my research is on the population genomics of Anopheles malaria vectors from Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. I am interested in understanding genetic and environmental processes that have resulted speciation in and the strong population structure observed in these mosquitoes. Some populations of these mosquitoes also do not feed on humans and this trait of zoophiliy has evolved at least twice in the species complex that is the focus of my research. During my PhD I compared the evolution of chemosensory genes that may influence this behavioural difference and I am currently expanding on this reseach using population genomic comparisons and whole genome scans. Another current focus of mine is working as a part of a team on a project aimed at developing a gene drive in Anopheles farauti (a primary malaria vector from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands) which is refractory to malaria.
Journal Articles
Ambrose, Luke, Allen, Scott L., Iro’ofa, Charlie, Butafa, Charles and Beebe, Nigel W. (2024). Genetic and geographic population structure in the malaria vector, Anopheles farauti, provides a candidate system for pioneering confinable gene-drive releases. Heredity, 1-15. doi: 10.1038/s41437-024-00677-2
Chow, Weng K, Cooper, Robert D, Lokhorst, Matthew, Zalucki, Myron P, Ambrose, Luke and Beebe, Nigel W (2024). Comparative assessment of a novel fan box trap for collecting Anopheles farauti and culicine mosquitoes alive in tropical north Queensland, Australia. Journal of Medical Entomology, 61 (2), 491-497. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjad156
Maynard, Andrew J., Ambrose, Luke, Bangs, Michael J., Ahmad, Rohani, Butafa, Charles and Beebe, Nigel W. (2023). Population structure and invasion history of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) in Southeast Asia and Australasia. Evolutionary Applications, 16 (4), 849-862. doi: 10.1111/eva.13541
Chow, Weng K., Beebe, Nigel W., Ambrose, Luke, Pickering, Paul and Cooper, Robert D. (2023). Seasonal assessment on the effects of time of night, temperature and humidity on the biting profile of Anopheles farauti in north Queensland, Australia using a population naive to malaria vector control pressures. Malaria Journal, 22 (1) 85, 1-9. doi: 10.1186/s12936-023-04495-5
Hugo, Leon E., Rašić, Gordana, Maynard, Andrew J., Ambrose, Luke, Liddington, Catherine, Thomas, Callum J. E., Nath, Nisa Suraj, Graham, Melissa, Winterford, Clay, Wimalasiri-Yapa, B M C Randika, Xi, Zhiyong, Beebe, Nigel W. and Devine, Gregor J. (2022). Wolbachia wAlbB inhibit dengue and Zika infection in the mosquito Aedes aegypti with an Australian background. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 16 (10) e0010786, e0010786. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010786
Ambrose, Luke, Popovic, Iva, Hereward, James, Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel and Beebe, Nigel W. (2022). Comparisons of chemosensory gene repertoires in human and non-human feeding Anopheles mosquitoes link olfactory genes to anthropophily. iScience, 25 (7) 104521, 104521. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104521
Ambrose, Luke, Ortiz‐Barrientos, Daniel, Cooper, Robert D., Lobo, Neil F., Burkot, Thomas R., Russell, Tanya L. and Beebe, Nigel W. (2021). Gene flow between island populations of the malaria mosquito, Anopheles hinesorum, may have contributed to the spread of divergent host preference phenotypes. Evolutionary Applications, 14 (9) eva.13288, 1-14. doi: 10.1111/eva.13288
Ambrose, Luke, Hanson, Jeffrey O., Riginos, Cynthia, Xu, Weixin, Fordyce, Sarah, Cooper, Robert D. and Beebe, Nigel W. (2019). Population genetics of Anopheles koliensis through Papua New Guinea: new cryptic species and landscape topography effects on genetic connectivity. Ecology and Evolution, 9 (23), 13375-13388. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5792
Maynard, Andrew J., Ambrose, Luke, Cooper, Robert D., Chow, Weng K., Davis, Joseph B., Muzari, Mutizwa O., van den Hurk, Andrew F., Hall-Mendelin, Sonja, Hasty, Jeomhee M., Burkot, Thomas R., Bangs, Michael J., Reimer, Lisa J., Butafa, Charles, Lobo, Neil F., Syafruddin, Din, Maung, Yan Naung Maung, Ahmad, Rohani and Beebe, Nigel W. (2017). Tiger on the prowl: invasion history and spatio-temporal genetic structure of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse 1894) in the Indo-Pacific. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 11 (4) e0005546, e0005546. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005546
Ambrose, Luke, Cooper, Robert D., Russell, Tanya L., Burkot, Thomas R., Lobo, Neil F., Collins, Frank H., Hii, Jeffrey and Beebe, Nigel W. (2014). Microsatellite and mitochondrial markers reveal strong gene flow barriers for Anopheles farauti in the Solomon Archipelago: implications for malaria vector control. International Journal for Parasitology, 44 (3-4), 225-233. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2013.12.001
Seah, Ignatius M., Ambrose, Luke, Cooper, Robert D. and Beebe, Nigel W. (2013). Multilocus population genetic analysis of the Southwest Pacific malaria vector Anopheles punctulatus. International Journal for Parasitology, 43 (10), 825-835. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2013.05.004
Beebe, Nigel W., Ambrose, Luke, Hill, Lydia A., Davis, Joseph B., Hapgood, George, Cooper, Robert D., Russell, Richard C., Ritchie, Scott A., Reimer, Lisa J., Lobo, Neil F., Syafruddin, Din and van den Hurk, Andrew F. (2013). Tracing the Tiger: Population Genetics Provides Valuable Insights into the Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus Invasion of the Australasian Region. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 7 (8) e2361, e2361.1-e2361.11. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002361
Roda, Federico, Ambrose, Luke, Walter, Gregory M., Liu, Huanle L., Schaul, Andrea, Lowe, Andrew, Pelser, Pieter B., Prentis, Peter, Rieseberg, Loren H. and Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel (2013). Genomic evidence for the parallel evolution of coastal forms in the Senecio lautus complex. Molecular Ecology, 22 (11), 2941-2952. doi: 10.1111/mec.12311
Ambrose, L., Riginos, C., Cooper, R. D., Leow, K. S., Ong, W. and Beebe, N. W. (2012). Population structure, mitochondrial polyphyly and the repeated loss of human biting ability in anopheline mosquitoes from the southwest Pacific. Molecular Ecology, 21 (17), 4327-4343. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05690.x
Conference Paper
Beebe, Nigel, Ambrose, Luke, Tom, Burkot, Tanya, Russell and Cooper, Bob (2013). Microsatellites Reveal Population Genetic Structure in Anopheles Farauti Through the Solomon Islands That Correlates with Differences in Time of Night Feeding Behaviour. EMBO Conference on Molecular and Population Biology of Mosquitoes and Other Disease Vectors: From Basic Vector Biology to Disease Control, Kolymbari, Greece, 15 -19 July 2013. Leeds, W Yorks, United Kingdom: Maney Publishing. doi: 10.1179/2047772413Z.000000000160
Data Collection
Luke Ambrose, Scott Allen and Nigel W. Beebe (2023). Anopheles farauti microsatellite and Anopheles farauti complex sequence data (mitogenome and Cardinal gene). The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/7d691e8
Thesis
Ambrose, Luke (2021). Population genetics and comparative genomics of Anopheles mosquitoes with different feeding behaviours. PhD Thesis, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/314a239