Dec. 21, 2007
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| UC Davis entomologist Bruce Hammock received funding for two grants in December from the UC Mosquito Research Program. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS —
Three entomologists at the University of California, Davis shared more than $200,000 in funding with four other researchers in grants awarded this month by the UC Mosquito Research Program, a statewide program of the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The researchers targeted the Culex mosquito, which transmits the West Nile virus (WNV). California recorded 379 human cases in 30 counties, including 16 fatalities, in 2007.
Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology, received two grants, "Development of a High Throughput Assay for Carboxylesterase-and GST-mediated Pyrethroid Resistance in Culex pipiens sensu lato,” and “Development of a Rapid Assay for Methoprene Resistance in Mosquito.”
Hammock is working on the projects with staff researcher George Kamita, who delivered the presentation at the UC Mosquito Research Program’s Grants Presentation Day last July at UC Riverside.
The Hammock lab will be collaborating with Anthony Cornel, associate professor of entomology at UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Cornel received separate funding for his “Investigating Population Structure of Culex pipiens sensu lato in California.” He does research on both Culex mosquitoes and Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that transmits malaria.
Medial entomologist Shirley Luckhart of the UC Davis School of Medicine received funds for her “Mosquito Mitochrondria: an Untapped Resource for the Development of Aging Biomarkers.” Like Cornel, she researches the malaria mosquito. Both serve as graduate student advisors in the Department of Entomology.
The four UC Riverside researchers who received grants:
- William Walton for “Efficacy of a Native Biological Agent Against West Nile Vectors Inhabiting Constructed Treatment Wetlands”
- Nancy Beckage for two grants, “Efficacy of Fungal Pathogens as Biological Controls of Adult Culex Mosquitoes” and “Biopesticidal Action of RH-2485 and the Formulations INTREPID, MACH-2, and CONFIRM on Culex Vectors of West Nile Virus Transmission”
- Ring Carde for “Attractants for Culex pipiens Complex Mosquitoes”
- Peter Atkinson for “High Frequency Culex Genetic Transformation”
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| Anthony Cornel answers a question at the UC Riverside meeting. He received one of the nine grants funded. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
Robert Washino, emeritus professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, chaired the Mosquito Research Program’s Public Advisory Committee and also served on the grants review committee, headed by Timothy Paine, entomology professor at UC Riverside and Steve Mulligan, manager of Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District, Selma.
Among those serving on the public advisory committee were UC Davis scientists Michael Parrella, associate dean of agricultural sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Dennis Wilson, chair of the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
UC Davis medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, with the School of Veterinary Medicine, directs the UC Mosquito Research Program. He also serves as a graduate student advisor in the Department of Entomology.
In 2007, nine California counties recorded WNV human fatalities: Colusa, Fresno, Kern (4), Kings, Los Angeles (3), Riverside (3) Sacramento, San Joaquin and Tulare counties. Kern County, the hardest hit with four fatalities, recorded 138 WNV human illnesses.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology, chaired by Walter Leal and headquartered in Briggs Hall, is ranked No. 1 in the country by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
