- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Her presentation is part of the weekly seminars hosted by the Program in International and Community Nutrition (PICN) seminars, all held Wednesdays from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in the Foster Room (Room 1138) of Meyer Hall.
Luckhart's research includes the molecular cell biology and biochemistry of malaria parasite transmission, the functional characterization of the immunological crosstalk and cell signaling that occurs between the mosquito and the mammalian host during bloodfeeding, and the impact of endemic co-infections on malaria parasite development and transmission.
She just received the 2016 “Award for Excellence in Service to Graduate Students,” presented April 8 by the UC Davis Graduate Student Association for outstanding teaching and mentoring. She earlier received the 2012 Outstanding Mentor Award from the UC Davis Consortium for Women and Research.
Luckhart, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 2004 from Virginia Tech, received her master's degree in entomology from Auburn University, and her doctorate in entomology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Access the website for upcoming PICN seminars.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
By popular vote, "Little Swimmers and Fly Tyers (Briggs Hall)," won the category, Hidden Treasures; and "Real Insects and Mimics (Bohart Museum of Entomology)" won the category "Family Friendly."
"Little Swimmers" featured an aquatic insect display from Professor Sharon Lawler's lab, while "Fly Tyers" was the work of the Fly Fishers of Davis, headed by president Dana Hooper and vice president Paul Berliner.
Coordinating the Bohart Museum Picnic Day exhibit were Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum; Tabatha Yang, public outreach and education; and Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist.
Chairing the Briggs Hall Picnic Day Committee were forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the faculty and doctoral candidate Danny Klittich, representing the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA). Kimsey also serves as the EGSA advisor. The Briggs Hall sub-committee chairs included:
- Erin Donely-Marineau - Registration
- Joanna Bloese and Brendon Boudinot - Maggot Art
- Stephanie Kurniawan - Medical Entomology
- Elina Niño - Honey Tasting and Apiculture
- Margaret "Rei" Scampavia - Pollinator Pavilion
- Jackson Audley and Corwin Parker - Forestry Entomology
- Bob Kimsey - Collecting Equipment and Dr. Death
- Cindy Preto - EGSA T-Shirts
- Sharon Lawler - Little Swimmers
- Ralph Washington Jr. - Bug Doctor
- Arachnids - Jeff Smith and Ziad Khouri
- Bumble Bees - Robbin Thorp
- Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - Nicole Tam
- Thorny Walking Sticks- Patrik Barcelos
- Tomato Hornworms - Laurie Casebier
- Australian Walking Sticks - Charlotte Herbert
- Tardigrade Display - Angel of Love "Lovey" Corniel and Tabatha Yang
- Mimicry Displays - Steve Heydon and Tabatha Yang
- Gift Shop - Ivani Li
The UC Davis Entomology Club entered a giant black widow float in the Picnic Parade. Taking the lead were Maia Lundy, president, and Marko Marrero, past president. Jamie Fong and Lovey Corniel led the baking for the entomophagy bake sale. Visitors purchased cricket-flour cookies and other goodies at a table in front of Briggs.
Scores of Entomology Club members participated in Picnic Day. Andre Poon and Stacey Lee Rice designed the club T-shirts, with ordering and selling overseen by Sydney Morrill and Tom Nguyen. Nguyen and Lundy also coordinated the tabling and face painting. Among the volunteers:
Face Painting: Jim Shen, Ushrayinee Sarker, Karissa Merritt, Maia Lundy, Jessica Nguyen, Marko Marrero, Stacey Lee Rice, Miriam Nansen, Ann Kao and Tom Nguyen
Baking: Jamie Fong, Lovey Corniel, Mary Corniel, Jessie Liu, Keith Wong, John So, Qiming Yang, Andre Poon, James Heydon
Tabling: Tom Nguyen, Qiming Yang, Andre Poon, Chloe Shott, Keith Wong, Darian Dungey, Jessie Liu and John So
Parade: Jamie Fong, Val Fong, Marko Marrero, Alex Nguyen, Ben Maples, Chloe Shott, Andre Poon, Qiming Yang, Maia Lundy, Jade Lundy, James Heydon, lovey Corniel, Mary Corniel, Massiel Melendez, Sydney Morrill, Andy Yu, Farian Dungey, Ushrayinee Sarker, Stacey Lee Rice and Kyle Leong.
(Editor's Note: Below are photos from the award-winning exhibits. For more photos from Picnic Day, see the Department of Entomology and Nematology's Flickr page.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
- Evolution of floral signals and flower morphology
- Pollinator-drive speciation
- Evolution of floral mimicry
Related Link:
Scholar.google.com
For upcoming seminars, download this PDF
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They're all heavily involved in mosquito research and each won a Bill Hazeltine Student Research Award, presented annually by the Hazeltine family.
And they all have stories to tell.
Stephanie Kurniawan
Stephanie Kurniawan is working on her master's degree, studying with major professors Ed Lewis and Shirley Luckhart. “Though I have lived in California my entire life, I often visited relatives in Indonesia,” she said. “During one trip when I was in middle school, I got dengue and had to be hospitalized for several days. No one in America knew about this disease, not even my pediatrician. This made me interested in vector-borne diseases and mosquitoes.”
Kurniawan went on to receive her degree in animal biology with a minor in medical and veterinary entomology at UC Davis.
“I am adapting methods for estimating age structure of Anopheles mosquito populations using the captive cohort method developed by Dr. James Carey. It is a potentially inexpensive and practical alternative for real-time surveillance of mosquito populations. I currently am testing this method on local populations of Anopheles freeborni from Sutter and Butte County rice fields.”
Sandy Olkowski
Sandy Olkowski is working on her doctorate in entomology, studying with medical entomologist Thomas Scott, emeritus professor of entomology.
“While working for a pediatrician when I was living in Thailand, I became aware of the significant disease burden that dengue places on populations in developing countries,” Olkowski said. “I returned to the United States with the goal of doing whatever I could to alleviate that burden, and subsequently applied to UC Davis because of the ground-breaking dengue research of Thomas Scott. I conducted research for my senior honors thesis in the Scott lab while completing a bachelor's degree in economics, with a focus on international development. I then continued on into a PhD in Entomology, with a designated emphasis in biology of vector-borne diseases. I am entering the 4th year of my PhD. I recently returned from 10 months of fieldwork in Iquitos, Peru.”
“My research is focused on dengue disease surveillance,” Olkowski said. “I am interested in identifying and quantifying ways that human behavior affects surveillance data. Rapid detection of increases in dengue cases is very important for public health officials, so they can implement vector control in a timely manner, but delays in treatment seeking by patients and clinical diagnosis by physicians may be impeding that process. I hope that the results of my research can be directly applied. Eventually, I would like to be able to sit down with public health officials and discuss evidence-based improvements to dengue surveillance.”
Maribel "Mimi" Portilla
Maribel "Mimi" Portilla has her master's degree in public health. “As many scientists, I am a very curious person, intrigued by multifaceted questions about the world around me,” Portilla said. “ As an undergraduate at Santa Clara University, I quickly found my calling to the sciences, and I double-majored in Biology, with an emphasis in ecology and evolution, and combined health sciences. However, I often found myself wondering how I could take my new knowledge and apply it in a way that would be beneficial to others. Completing a minor in sociology at SCU became pivotal in my search for a graduate program. I found that public health incorporated my love for biology and my growing interest in social issues. At UC Berkeley School of Public Health, I was able to study health and disease within a larger context, and how to consider the biology and the social determinants of disease."
"After completing my master's in public health with an emphasis in infectious diseases and vaccinology, I realized I really missed the research experiences I had as an undergraduate, and so I looked for a way to bridge my new-found passion for Public Health and basic science research. This led me to UC Davis, where I am now pursuing a Ph.D in medical entomology. At UC Davis I learned about One Health, which states that the health of people, the environment, and animals is closely intertwined, and a seamless interaction between disciplines is critical for the health of all. Medical entomology is inherently a prefect field in which to ask questions about how the interactions between humans and animals impact health."
"Within One Health theory, I am particularly interested in how people manipulate the environment in ways that change the risk of disease by arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes," Portilla said. "Although environmental manipulation is a classic mosquito control technique, indirect effects of managing other concerns, such as invasive weeds, is not well understood. I am focusing on how the management practices of the invasive exotic weeds, Brazilian waterweed (Egeria densa) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta impact mosquitoes and their habitat. My goal is to better understand the ecology of these management practices in order to inform and create better techniques to reduce both mosquito and weed problems.”
“Due to my diverse interests and skill set, I am very open about my career choices. I have extensive teaching experience, and would love to be a professor with both teaching and research opportunities. However, there are many work opportunities beyond academia. My research is introducing me to many government organizations, such as Vector Control districts, who are doing important work and research to keep people safe and healthy. I hope to continue developing a strong research skill set while at UC Davis, and find a career path which takes advantage of my diverse abilities and love for One Health and Public Health. “
William Emery Hazeltine II
William Emery Hazeltine II (1926-1994), for whom the Bill Hazeltine Student Research Award is named, worked tirelessly in mosquito research. He managed the Butte County Mosquito Abatement District, Oroville, from 1966 to 1992. He was an ardent supporter of the judicious use of public health pesticides to protect public health.
Hazeltine studied entomology in the UC Berkeley graduate program, 1950-53, and received his doctorate in entomology from Purdue University in 1962.
He managed the Lake County Mosquito Abatement District from 1961-64 and the Butte County Mosquito Abatement District from 1966-1992. He continued work on related projects until his death in 1994.
Two of his sons actively support the memorial fund: Craig of Scottsdale and Lee of Woodland. A third son, Jeff of Los Angeles, supported the memorial award until his death in March 2013.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The event will take place in MU II (second floor) and is free and open to the public.
It's being held "to increase awareness among the general public about malaria, one of the world's oldest and deadliest diseases, as well as vector-borne problems at home in California," said medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Malaria "is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries, where young children and pregnant women are the groups most affected," the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out, citing these figures from the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report 2013 and the Global Malaria Action Plan:
- 3.4 billion people (half the world's population) live in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 106 countries and territories
- In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 207 million clinical episodes, and 627,000 deaths. An estimated 91% of deaths in 2010 were in the African Region.
The most vulnerable groups, CDC says, are young children, who have not yet developed partial immunity to malaria; pregnant woman, whose immunity is decreased by pregnancy, especially during the first and second pregnancies; and travelers or migrants coming from areas with little or no malaria transmission, who lack immunity.
The schedule for the UC Davis Malaria Awareness Day:
- 10 to 10:30 am.: Coffee/social/posters
- 10:30 to 10:50: "General Malaria Biology" by medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
- 10:50 to 11:20: Conducting Field Research in Rural Africa" by medical entomologist Anthony Cornel, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and based at the UC Kearney Agriculture and Research Center, Parlier
- 11:10 to 11:30: "Malaria Parasites in the Mosquito" by molecular biologist Shirley Luckhart, professor, UC Davis Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and an adjunct professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology
- 11:30 to 11:50: "Mosquito-Borne Viral Diseases" by medical entomologist Chris Barker, assistant adjunct professor and assistant research scientist, UC Davis Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
- 11:50 to 12:10: "Disease Transmission by Non-Mosquito Vectors" by epidemiologist/veterinarian and disease ecologist Janet Foley, professor, UC Davis Department of Medicine and Epidemiology
- 12:10 to 1:30: A free lunch will be provided, but reservations must be made by April 21 to Youki Kevin Yamasaki at ykyamasaki@ucdavis.edu.
