Christy C. Andrade, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

My teaching philosophy is centered on the premise that everyone should have a basic knowledge of science in order to make connections between different aspects of biology and everyday life. My classroom is a place for students to foster new ideas and...

Profile photo of Assistant Professor Christy Andrade

Contact Information

  • Spring 2024
    Mondays: 9:30-10 a.m. and 1-2 p.m.
    Thursdays: 1-2 p.m.
    Fridays: 1-2:30 p.m.

  • (509) 313-3888

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D. in Microbiology, University of California - Davis

B.S. in Chemistry, Northern Arizona University

Courses Taught

BIOL 105 Info Flow in Biol Systems

BIOL 105L Info Flow in Biol Systems Lab

BIOL 375 Virology

BIOL 370 Microbiology

BIOL 370L Microbiology Lab

BIOL 399 Advanced Topics: Infectious Disease & Society


My teaching philosophy is centered on the premise that everyone should have a basic knowledge of science in order to make connections between different aspects of biology and everyday life. My classroom is a place for students to foster new ideas and to piece together scientific concepts in order to understand broad concepts and encourage lifelong learning in the sciences. Microbiology and virology are my areas of expertise and my research focuses on factors impacting the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses.

 Published Journal Articles

Yeager C.M., Northup D.E., Grow C.C., Barns S.M. and Kuske C.R. (2005). Changes in nitrogen-fixing and ammonia-oxidizing bacterial communities in soil of a mixed conifer forest after wildfire.  Appl Environ Microbiol.; 71(5): 2713-2722.

Barns S.M., Grow C.C., Okinaka R.T., Keim P. and Kuske C.R. (2005). Detection of diverse new Francisella-like bacteria in environmental samples. Appl Environ Microbiol.; 71(9): 5494-5500.

Kuske C.R., Barns S.M., Grow C.C., Merrill L. and Dunbar J. (2006). Environmental survey for four pathogenic bacteria and closely related species using phylogenetic and functional genes. J Forensic Sciences; 51(3): 548-558.

Andrade, C.C., Maharaj, P.D., Reisen, W.K. and Brault, A.C. (2011). North American West Nile virus genotype isolates demonstrate differential replicative capacities in response to temperature. J Gen Virol; 92: 2523-2533.

Worwa G., Andrade C.C., Thiemann T.C., Park B., Maharaj P.D., Anishchenko M., Brault A.C., Reisen W.K. (2014) Allele-specific qRT-PCR demonstrates superior detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms as genetic markers for West Nile virus compared to Luminex® and quantitative sequencing. J Vir Methods; 195: 76-85. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2013.09.014.

Langevin, S.A., Bowen, R.A., Reisen, W.K., Andrade, C.C., Ramey, W.N., Maharaj, P.D., Anishchenko, M., Kenney, J., Duggal, N.K., Bera, A.K., Sanders, T.A., Bosco-Lauth, A., Smith, J.L., Kuhn, R., and Brault, A.C. (2014). Host competence and helicase activity differences exhibited by West Nile viral variants expressing NS3-249 amino acid polymorphisms.  PLoS One; 9(6):e100802. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100802

Schirtzinger, E.E., Andrade, C.C., Devitt, N., Ramaraj, T., Jacobi, J. L., Schilkey, F.D. and Hanley, K.A. (2015). Repertoire of virus-derived small RNAs produced by mosquito and mammalian cells in response to dengue virus infection. Virology; 476: 54-60. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2014.11.019.

Prow, N.A., Edmonds, J.H., Williams, D. T., Setoh, Y.X., Bielefeldt-Ohmann, H., Suen, W.W., Hobson-Peters, J., van den Hurk, A.F., Pyke, A.T., Hall-Mendelin, S., Northill, J.A., Johansen, C.A., Warrilow, D., Wang, J., Kirkland, P.D., Doggett, S., Andrade, C.C., Brault, A.C., Khromykh, A.A. and Hall, R.A. (2016). Virulence and Evolution of West Nile Virus, Australia, 1960-2012. Emerg Infect Dis; 22(8): 1353-1362.

Andrade, C.C., Young, K.I., Johnson, W., Villa, M., Buraczyk, C., Messer, W.B. and Hanley, K.A. (2016) The Rise and Fall of Mosquito Infectivity During Sequential Strain Displacements by Mosquito-Borne Dengue Virus. J Evo Bio; 29: 2205-2218.


Chapters in edited books

Hanley, K.H. and Andrade, C.C. (2016). RNA interference: a Pathway to Arbovirus Control. In D. Gubler & N. Vasilakis (Eds.), Arboviruses: Molecular biology, evolution, and control. Caister Academic Press.

I study arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) and the mosquitoes that transmit arboviruses. My research interests focus on understanding biotic and abiotic factors that influence transmission dynamics of mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue virus, West Nile virus, and Zika virus.  Typically, the best way to control these viruses is to prevent transmission by a mosquito host; however, this is no simple task.  Recently, it was discovered that bacteria and fungi in the mosquito midgut can actually limit transmission of some arboviruses and exploiting this has become one proposed method for limiting virus transmission thus decreasing disease burden.  Problematically, little is understood about the complex relationship between the mosquito, the virus, and the community of bacteria harbored by the mosquito.