Spotlight on 'The Most Dangerous Animal on Earth'

The next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar will zero in on “the most dangerous animals on earth.”

Peter Piermarini, professor and chair of Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University,  will present a seminar on “Discovery of Novel Chemical Tools for Controlling the Most Dangerous Animals on Earth” at 4:10 p.m., Monday, Feb. 12 in Room 122 of Briggs Hall and also on Zoom. The link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

“Mosquitoes are considered the most dangerous animals on Earth due to the deadly pathogens they transmit to humans,” Piermarini writes in his abstract. “Controlling the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases often relies on chemical tools that prevent mosquitoes from biting humans (e.g., insecticides, repellents). However, the evolution of resistance in mosquitoes to commonly used control agents with similar modes of action has generated a need to discover novel chemistries for killing and/or repelling mosquitoes."

"However," he continued, "the evolution of resistance in mosquitoes to commonly used control agents with similar modes of action has generated a need to discover novel chemistries for killing and/or repelling mosquitoes. To address this need, my lab is engaged in collaborative research that is discovering synthetic small molecules to disrupt novel physiological targets in mosquitoes and screening natural products for insecticidal and repellent activity against mosquitoes. My talk will summarize examples for each of these approaches and their potential for development into novel mosquito control tools."

“Dr. Piermarini is a physiologist whose work focuses on the function of Malpighian tubules (the insect equivalent of kidneys) in mosquitoes,” says host Geoffrey Attardo, medical entomologist and geneticist and associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “This organ system is of particular interest in mosquitoes due to the unique adaptations required to compensate for the challenges associated with blood feeding and presents a target for novel mosquito control strategies."

Piermarini received his bachelor's degree in biology from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va., and doctorate in zoology from the University of Florida, Gainesville, before completing postdoctoral training at the Yale University School of Medicine and Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. His laboratory studies the molecular physiology and toxicology of mosquitoes with the goal of discovering and developing insecticides with novel modes of action.

For any Zoom technical issues, contact seminar coordinator Brian Johnson, associate professor, at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of seminars for the winter quarter is here.