Insect-Pathogen Interactions
Brian P. Lazzaro
Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor
Cornell University
Department of Entomology
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ph.D., Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 2002
B.S., Genetics, University of California, Davis, 1995
Brian Lazzaro is a Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of genetics and evolutionary biology at Cornell University, directing a research program focused on insect-pathogen interactions. He got his start in research and Drosophila genetics as an undergraduate student in Chuck Langley’s lab at UC Davis in 1994. He completed his Ph.D. with Andy Clark at Penn State in 2002, then moved to Cornell where he started his own research group in 2003. Prof. Lazzaro has authored over 100 scientific publications and has sustained continuous federal funding since 2004, primarily from the National Institutes of Health.
Prof. Lazzaro teaches Cornell courses in evolutionary biology, genetics of natural systems, and infectious disease, and has co-taught field ecology in Kenya. He served on the exam development committee that writes the College Board AP Biology test from 2015-2018 and co-chaired that committee in 2016-2018. He is currently a mentor in the Lumiere Education program, which provides research experiences for high school students.
In his spare time, Brian is a recreational triathlete. Although it would be awesome if it was true, he is not Brian Lazzaro the film director.
Representative Leadership and Service
External
NIH / CSR Study Section "Genetic Variation and Evolution (GVE)" standing member (2022 - present, panel Chair 2025 - present)
Advanced Placement (AP) Biology Exam Development Committee (2015 - 2018; committee co-Chair 2016 - 2018)
Junior Faculty Mentor, Genetics Society of America FlyCROSS program (2025 - present)
Great Lakes Regional Representative to Genetics Society of America North American Drosophila Board (2021 - 2014)
Editorial Board, PLoS Pathogens (2025 - present)
Editorial Board, Journal of Insect Physiology (2025 - present)
Associate Editor, Genetics (2012 - 2019)
Associate Editor, Frontiers in Evolutionary and Population Genetics (2011-2017)
Editorial Board, Ecological Parasitology and Immunology (2011 - 2016)
Editorial Advisory Board, Developmental and Comparative Immunology (2008- 2012)
Organizer or co-organizer of 20 workshops and symposia (2004 - 2025)
Cornell
Director, Cornell Institute of Host-Microbe Interactions and Disease; CIHMID (2016-2025)
Director, Postdoctoral Training Program in "Host-Microbe Interactions that Determine Host Traits and Disease"; NIH T32 AI145821 (2017 - 2025)
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs Advisory Board (2026 - present)
Executive Committee, Cornell Center for Immunology (2019 - present)
Co-Chair, Provost's Task Force on Infection Biology (2016 - 2018)
College of Agriculture and Life Science Strategic Planning Task Force (2016)
Director of Graduate Studies, Entomology (2011 - 2014)
Cornell Life Sciences Planning Task Force (2009)
Executive Committee, Cornell Center for Comparative and Population Genomics (2008 - 2018)