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| Gary Felton, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State University, has been selected to deliver the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar. He will present a lecture on "Dialogues at the Plant-Herbivore Interface" on Wednesday, May 25 in the new Conference Center, Ballroom B. |
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DAVIS--Gary Felton, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., will deliver the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar on "Dialogues at the Plant-Herbivore Interface" on Wednesday, May 25 at the University of California, Davis.
The event, sponsored by the Department of Entomology, will take place in Ballroom B of the new UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Lane, located across from the Mondavi Center on the southeast campus. Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 5 p.m., followed by the public seminar at 6 p.m. A buffet dinner for invited guests will follow his talk.
Fenton, who received his doctorate of entomology degree from UC Davis in 1988, studying with Sean Duffey, says of his lecture: “Our understanding of induced resistance against herbivores has grown immeasurably during the last several decades. Based upon the emerging literature, I argue that induced resistance represents a continuum of phenotypes that is determined by the plant’s ability to integrate multiple suites of signals of plant and herbivore origin.”
“Herbivore-derived cues,” he said, “may be perceived by plants to elicit defensive responses, but herbivores may also partially evade plant defenses through a variety of secreted effectors. A more comprehensive model describing induced resistance is needed that illustrates the range of signals arising from early detection through herbivore feeding, and finally, through subsequent plant generations.”
Felton, who has served as professor and head of the Penn State Department of Entomology since 2000, received his bachelor of science degree from UC Irvine in 1975 and his master’s degree from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, in 1983, before he enrolled in the entomology doctorate program at UC Davis. After receiving his doctorate, he did postdoctoral work at UC Davis from 1988 to 2000, and then joined the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, as an assistant professor in 2000. He was promoted to associate professor in 1994, and to professor in 1998. He left the University of Arkansas in 2000 to accept the professor and department chair position at Penn State.
Felton has served on numerous peer-reviewed panels of U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation.
He is the recipient of many awards, including:
2003: Phillip C. Hamm Memorial Lectureship in Plant Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
2003: 10th Annual Awardee of the John and Olga LeTourneau Memorial Lectureship at the University of Idaho, Moscow (Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry).
2007: Invited speaker for plenary address, Brazilian Society of Chemical Ecology
2008: Invited speaker for French Academy of Science Symposium on “New Trends in Plant Biology and Technology”
2008: Invited Speaker for American Society of Plant Biologists Mini Symposium
2009: Charles Leslie Doan Lecture Series Awardee, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2010: Invited Symposium Speaker for International Society of Plant Molecular Biology, 2010
For more information on his UC Davis visit, contact Naima Carter at nacarter@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0492.
Related Links:
About the Conference Center
Directions
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
