Entomology

Dr. Davidowitz studies how insects allocate the nutrients they acquire from food to different functions and traits. He is also developing the processes and technologies to develop edible insects for food and feed. He founded a startup company, HexaFeast, to commercialize these processes.

Peter Ellsworth is working to develop science-based solutions for integrated pest management through applied ecological investigations and organized outreach programs of Cooperative Extension, with principal focus on cotton; Integrated whitefly, Lygus, and pink bollworm management in cotton.

Public health entomologist and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) advocate working on pests that impact human health, and IPM in the built environment.

Molly Hunter works to understand the role of heritable microbial symbionts in the biology of herbivorous arthropod, or pest biology. Current projects include: Investigating Rickettsia in the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and investigating interactions between Cardinium and Wolbachia, in whitefly parasitoids in the genus Encarsia and Eretmocerus.

Xianchun Li's research aims to use genetics to shed light on the defense signaling of plants and the counterdefense of herbivorous insects, which may result in the design of new insecticides for crops like corn, in defense against the corn earworm. Additionally, Dr. Li's research is to define, globally, the regulatory triangle between nuclear receptors (NRs), their ligands, and cytochrome P450s (P450s) in Drosophila melanogaster, and to investigate the molecular mechanisms of Bt and conventional insecticide resistance.

Understanding how genes and genomes are shaped over many generations by the environment in which organisms live in. We also aim to examine how these changes accumulate and might facilitate the genetic divergence between populations and eventually possibly the origin of species. Lastly we aim to leverage the power of genomics to understand the evolution of insecticide resistance in agricultural pests and to find solution to their management.

Our work seeks to develop novel approaches towards controlling mosquito-borne diseases. We are interested in better understanding the relationship between the mosquito vector and the pathogens they transmit. Through genetic engineering we hope to generate fit, pathogen resistant mosquitoes that could be used to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.