- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They replace medical entomologist William Reisen, professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine. who retired in June.
Luckhart, a molecular biologist, is a member of the faculty of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and a graduate student advisor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology. She received her doctorate in entomology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her expertise includes the molecular cell biology and biochemistry of malaria parasite transmission.
Foley, an epidemiologist, is a member of the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology. She received both her DVM and Ph.D from UC Davis. Foley studies the ecology and epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, particularly tick-transmitted diseases in the western U.S.
Luckhart and Foley, as interim co-directors, will ensure that CVEC meets its mission of promoting multidisciplinary and collaborative excellence in training and research to understand, prevent, and manage vector-borne diseases, according to Michael Lairmore, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Frederick Meyers, vice dean of the School of Medicine.
In a statement posted on the School of Veterinary Medicine's website, the deans wrote: “They will oversee and manage any endowments, contracts, and grants that fund collaborative research and training exchange programs between the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and School of Medicine, as well as key stakeholders and partnering institutions in collaborative training and research initiatives and programs. They will support and enhance collaborations across campus in support of vector-borne disease research and education, national and international collaborations through research and program grants to strengthen both basic and translational research and provide impactful support for the development of vector-borne disease policy locally, nationally, and internationally."
Their duties include coordinating the activities of faculty, staff, and students "to enhance scientific and educational advancement on campus in the area of vector biology and vector-borne diseases."
CVEC encourages participation of faculty from other academic units on the Davis campus and on other campuses in the UC System. Center research focuses on the biological interactions between vectors and infectious agents and between the vectors and vertebrate hosts of these pathogens and parasites.
In addition to the viral diseases of humans, domestic animals and wildlife that are transmitted by mosquitoes and other biting flies, the center also engages in research on rickettsial, bacterial, protozoan and helminth disease pathogens carried by vectors such as ticks, fleas, crustaceans, mollusks, and rodents. Faculty associated with the center have expertise in vectorborne veterinary and human infectious diseases and in public health entomology.
A unique aspect of CVEC is that its research encompasses the full range of activities from developing rapid and more accurate molecular methods for disease diagnosis and surveillance, to understanding the ecology of diseases in its natural setting, to the development of strategies and tools for disease prevention and management.
In addition to Reisen, past directors of CVEC are
- Bennie Osburn, School of Veterinary Medicine (1995 - 1996)
- Bruce Eldridge, Department of Entomology (1996 - 1997)
- Rance LeFebvre, School of Veterinary Medicine, and Tom Scott, Department of Entomology, (1997 - 1999)
- John Edman, Department of Entomology, (1999 - 2004)
- Fred Murphy, School of Veterinary Medicine, (2004)
- James MacLachlan, School of Veterinary Medicine, and Robert Washino, Department of Entomology (2004 - 2005)
- Greg Lanzaro, Department of Entomology (he is now with the School of Veterinary Medicine) (2005 - 2007)
- Dennis Wilson, School of Veterinary Medicine (2007 - 2009)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The event (LASER is an acronym for Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) is coordinated and moderated by Anna Davidson of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, which was co-founded by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick, now retired.
Davidson, currently seeking her master's degree in fine arts at UC Davis, received her Ph.D. earlier this year from UC Davis in plant sciences, studying plant ecophysiology. She continues to study the biological world using both artistic and scientific approaches.
The schedule:
6:30 to 7 p.m.
Socializing and networking
Venkatesan Sundaresan, a plant sciences professor at UC Davis, will speak on “Mysteries of the Silent Kingdom: Sticking to One's Roots, Managing Hormones and Spreading Genes”
Biography: Sundaresan, a professor in the UC Davis Plant Biology and Plant Sciences departments, for the past 10 years. did his undergraduate studies in India, graduate studies in the United States: Ph.D in biophysics (Harvard University,) and postdoctoral research in plant genetics (UC Berkeley). He carried out research on fundamental genetic mechanisms in plants, first as a faculty at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, then at Singapore as founding director of the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology. A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he is also a Fulbright awardee, and served as program director (biological sciences) at the National Science Foundation. He is on on the editorial boards of several journals. Other interests: the arts, especially music, and its intersection with science.
Robin Hill, art professor at UC Davis, will speak on “Idea Cultivation in the Studio.”
Abstract: Hill will discuss the cultivation of ideas and approaches to making and meaning in her art work. Working with ideas of wonder and phenomena, Hill investigates the aesthetic properties of materials. She looks at how meaning is formed through the re-contextualization of familiar objects in unfamiliar configurations.
Biography: Hill is an artist and art professor at UC Davis. Her primary medium is sculpture, which crosses disciplinary boundaries. She makes objects, photographs, and drawings. She is interested in the ways in which two and three-dimensional art practices inform each other. Hill is represented by Lennon Weinberg, Inc., New York.
She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts, individual artist fellowship in sculpture, two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowships, and two New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships. Hill is a former fellow of the Davis Humanities Institute for her research on "The Poetics and Politics of Place." Solo exhibitions include Multiplying the Variations, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc. (New York) 2004 and at the University Art Gallery, California State University, Stanislaus, 2006; Kardex, another year in LA (Los Angeles), 2006; Drawing the Line, Don Soker Contemporary Art (San Francisco), 2007; Robin Hill, Jay Jay Gallery (Sacramento), 2008. Case Discussions, Lennon Weinberg 2012, Snowflake, another year in LA, 2012 Slide Carousel, Ramon's Tailor, and 2014 among others. For more information: Robin Hill website.
7:50 to 8:10 p.m.
Break: Networking/socializing. During the break, presentations will be given. "Anyone can have 30 seconds to share their work, or announce an exhibition, show, idea, etc.," said Davidson.
Chris Dewees, retired marine fisheries specialist at UC Davis, will speak on “Passion for Fish: When East Meets West."
Abstract: This illustrated talk will give insights into two-way communication between scientists and artists.
Biography: Dewees is a San Francisco native with a lifelong passion for fish. His career has included commercial fishing and 35 years as the statewide marine fisheries specialist at UC Davis. His fisheries science accomplishments blended fisheries biology with the human dimensions of fisheries management. When first exposed to the Japanese art of gyotaku, he said he was hooked. "Combining my fisheries expertise with this art form gives me a very balanced life and a way to communicate my passion for fish to others," he says. The art has led to shows and adventures around the world including the Smithsonian. Dewees received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Redlands in biology and speech; his master's degree from Humboldt State University in fisheries; and his doctorate at UC Davis in ecology.
Nanette Wylde, professor of art and art history at California State University, Chico, will speak on “Instigating Some Kind of Action: Interactive Projects Online and Off.”
Biography: Wylde is an artist, writer and cultural worker making socially reflective, language-based works generally of hybrid media. She holds a bachelor's degree in behavioral science from San Jose State University and a MFA in Interactive Multimedia and Printmaking from Ohio State University. At California State University, Chico, she developed and heads the Digital Media/Electronic Arts Program. She is represented by the 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, Ore.; Central Booking, Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Vamp and Tramp, Birmingham, Ala. More information is on her website.
Related Links:
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Host is Michael Parrella, professor and chair, Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"Many species groups, including mammals or many insects, determine sex using heteromorphic sex chromosomes," Bachtrog says in her abstract. "Diptera flies, which include the model Drosophila melanogaster, generally have XY sex chromosomes and a conserved karyotype consisting of six chromosomal arms (5 large rods and a small dot), but superficially similar karyotypes may conceal the true extent of sex chromosome variation. Here, we use whole-genome analysis in 35 fly species belonging to 22 different families of Diptera and uncover tremendous hidden diversity in sex chromosome karyotypes among flies.
"We identify over a dozen different sex chromosome configurations, and the small dot chromosome is repeatedly used as the sex chromosome, which presumably reflects the ancestral karyotype of higher Diptera. However, we identify species with homomorphic sex chromosomes, others were a different chromosome replaced the dot as a sex chromosome, or were up to three chromosomal elements became incorporated into the sex chromosomes, and others yet with female heterogamety (ZW sex chromosomes). Transcriptome analysis shows that dosage compensation has evolved multiple times in flies, consistently through upregulation of the single X in males. Yet, X chromosomes generally show a deficiency of genes with male-biased expression, presumably reflecting sex-specific selection pressures. These species thus provide a rich resource to study sex chromosome biology in a comparative manner, and show that similar selective forces have shaped the unique evolution of sex chromosomes in diverse fly taxa."
Bachtrog writes on her website: "Research in our lab combines both computational and experimental approaches to address a broad range of topics in Evolutionary and Functional Genomics including: (1) Determining the evolutionary benefits of sex and recombination (2) Investigations of large scale changes in patterns of gene expression on evolving sex chromosomes: Dosage compensation of X-linked genes and silencing of Y-linked genes by heterochromatin formation (3) Comparative & functional genomics of young Y chromosomes in Drosophila and mammals (4) Sexual antagonistic variation and feminization & masculinization of evolving X chromosomes (5) Quantifying the mode and strength of selection acting on coding and non-coding DNA in the Drosophila genome (6) Population genetics of Tetrahymena thermophila." (See lab research)
Bachtrog received her master's degree in genetics in 1999 from the University of Vienna, graduating with high honors. She obtained her doctorate in genetics in 2002 from the University of Vienna, Austria, and University of Edinburgh, UK, , graduating with high honors. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, from 2002 to 2003, and then was an Austrian Academy of Science Fellow (2003-2005) at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
Bachtrog's first faculty appointment was as assistant professor, 2005-2008, at UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences. She joined UC Berkeley in 2008, serving as an assistant professor, 2008-2012, in the Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Theoretical Evolutionary Genomics. Bachtrog was promoted to associate professor in 2012.
Among the recent awards and honors she's received:
- Packard Fellowship in Evolutionary Biology, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (2008)
- Sloan Research Fellowship in Computational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology, Alfred P. Sloan foundation (2007)
- Young Investigator Prize for Most Promising Young Researcher, The American Society of Naturalists (2004)
- Austrian Academy of Science, Austrian Programme for Advanced Research and Technology fellowship (2003)
- The Royal Society, Royal Society Research Grant (2002)
The remainder schedule of seminars:
Wednesday, Dec. 3
No seminar
Wednesday, Dec. 10
Sawyer Fuller
Postdoctoral researcher, Harvard University
Title: "RoboBee: Using the Engineering Toolbox to Understand the Flight Apparatus of Flying Insects"
Host: James Carey, distinguished professor of entomology
This seminar is being remote broadcast to UC Davis via internet
Contacts:
Steve Nadler, sanadler@ucdavis.edu
Professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Jesael "Jesa" David, jcdavid@ucdavis.edu
Student Affairs Officer, Graduate Programs
Plant Pathology, Entomology and Nematology
Long-term exposure to triclosan, an antimicrobial commonly found in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and many other household items, may potentially have serious health consequences, according to a team of University of California researchers, including Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Their research, published Nov. 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that triclosan causes liver fibrosis and cancer in laboratory mice through molecular mechanisms that are also relevant in humans.
“Triclosan's increasing detection in environmental samples and its increasingly broad use in consumer products may overcome its moderate benefit and present a very real risk of liver toxicity for people, as it does in mice, particularly when combined with other compounds with similar action,” said Robert H. Tukey, professor in the departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Pharmacology, UC San Diego School of Medicine
Tukey led the study with Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Research Center. They direct the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Programs at their respective campuses.
The team, including Mei-Fei Yueh, found that triclosan disrupted liver integrity and compromised liver function in mouse models. Mice exposed to triclosan for six months--roughly equivalent to 18 human years--were more susceptible to chemical-induced liver tumors. Their tumors were also larger and more frequent than in mice not exposed to triclosan.
The study suggests triclosan may do its damage by interfering with the constitutive androstane receptor, a protein responsible for detoxifying (clearing away) foreign chemicals in the body. To compensate for this stress, liver cells proliferate and turn fibrotic over time. Repeated triclosan exposure and continued liver fibrosis eventually promote tumor formation.
Triclosan is perhaps the most ubiquitous consumer antibacterial. Studies have found traces in 97 percent of breast milk samples from lactating women and in the urine of nearly 75 percent of people tested. Triclosan is also common in the environment: It is one of the seven most frequently detected compounds in streams across the United States.
“We could reduce most human and environmental exposures by eliminating uses of triclosan that are high volume, but of low benefit, such as inclusion in liquid hand soaps,” Hammock said. “Yet we could also for now retain uses shown to have health value — as in toothpaste, where the amount used is small.”
Triclosan is already under scrutiny by the FDA, due to its widespread use and recent reports that it can disrupt hormones and impair muscle contraction.
Co-authors include Koji Taniguchi, Shujuan Chen and Michael Karin, UC San Diego; and Ronald M. Evans, Salk Institute for Biological Studies. (See PNAS paper)
This research was funded, in part, by U.S. Public Health Service grants ES010337, GM086713, GM100481, A1043477, ES002710 and ES004699.
Author: Heather Buschman
UC San Diego Health Sciences
hbuschman@ucsd.edu
Phone: (619) 543-6163
(Editor's Note: Hammock was featured in the Sept. 4 edition of Newsweek in a piece titled "Is Cancer Lurking in Your Toothpaste? (And Your Soap? And Your Lipstick? Hammock called triclosan “quite a good antimicrobial” that belongs in the hospital, not on the kitchen counter, wrote reporter Alexander Nazaryan, who quoted Hammock as saying: “There's no reason for it to be there" (in hand and dish soaps).
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Carey, a distinguished professor of entomology with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is considered the world's foremost authority on arthropod demography. Page, provost of Arizona State University and emeritus professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is considered the most influential honey bee biologist of the past 30 years.
UC Davis chemical ecologist Walter Leal, co-chair of the International Congress of Entomology (ICE 2016), announced the names of the eight plenary speakers at the Entomological Society of America meeting, underway Nov. 16-19 in Portland, Ore. The process was highly competitive, he said, with 77 nominations worldwide.
The ICE conference, set Sept. 25-30, 2016, may be the largest gathering of entomologists ever. Some 6000 are expected to attend. It will be co-located with the annual meetings of the Entomological Society of America and the Entomological Society of Canada, along with events hosted by the entomological societies of China, Brazil, Australia, and others.
“We are delighted to have the first Hispanic woman (Latina) to give a plenary lecture at ICE; likewise, the first kiwi (New Zealander), as well as the first native African to have the opportunity to highlight their work in this venue,” said Leal, professor in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
The list of plenary speakers:
- Carolina Barilla-Mury, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Guatemala & USA, who will speak on medical entomology immunity
- Jacqueline Beggs, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Topic: biodiversity and biosecurity
- James R. Carey, University of California, Davis. Topic: insect biodemography
- Fred Gould, North Carolina State University. Topic: GMOs: crop and health protection
- Robert E. Page, Jr., Arizona State University. Topic: bee biology: Spirit of the Hive” (title of his latest book)
- José Roberto Postali Parra, ESALQ, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Topic: biological control.
- John A. Pickett, Rothamsted Research, UK. Topic: insect-plant interactions
- Baldwyn Torto, Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Topic: Colony collapse disorder and pollination.
Capsule information on the UC Davis-affiliated entomologists:
Carey has authored more than 250 scientific articles, including landmark papers in Science that shaped the way scientists think about lifespan limits and actuarial aging, and two articles in the Annual Review series that provide new syntheses on insect biodemography (2003, Annual Review of Entomology) and aging in the wild (2014, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics). He directed a $10 million multi-university grant for more than a decade (2003-2013).
Carey is the author of three books, including Applied Demography for Biologists with Special Emphasis on Insects (Oxford University Press), the go-to source for all entomologists studying demography. Highly honored for his work, Carey received the 2014 C. W. Woodworth Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), and the 2014 UC Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award for innovative and creative teaching.
Carey chaired the University of California Systemwide Committee on Research Policy—one of the most important and prestigious committees in the UC system and served on the systemwide UC Academic Council. In addition, he serves as the associate editor of three journals: Genus, Aging Cell, and Demographic Research. In addition, he is the first entomologist to have a mathematical discovery named after him by demographers—The Carey Equality—which set the theoretical and analytical foundation for a new approach to understanding wild populations.
He is a fellow of four professional organizations: ESA, the Gerontological Society of America, the California Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Carey has presented more than 250 seminars in venues all over the world, from Stanford, Harvard, Moscow, Beijing to Athens, London, Adelaide and Okinawa. In addition, Carey is considered a worldwide authority on the demography and invasion biology of tephritid fruit flies, particularly the Mediterranean fruit fly; and a preeminent authority on biodemographics of human aging and lifespan. He is also a pioneering force advocating the educational use of digital video technology, work that he is sharing throughout much of the state, nation and the world.
Carey received his bachelor's degree (animal ecology, 1973) and master's degree (entomology, 1975) from Iowa State University, and his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley in 1980.
Page, who received his doctorate in entomology at UC Davis in 1980, served as an assistant professor at Ohio State University before joining the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 1989. He chaired the department for five years, from 1999 to 2004. Page's specialized genetic stock of honey bees was based for many years at UC Davis.
Page has published more than 200 reviewed publications, three edited books and two authored books. His lab pioneered the use of modern techniques to study the genetic bases to the evolution of social behavior in honey bees and other social insects.
Page was the first to employ molecular markers to study polyandry and patterns of sperm use in honey bees. He provided the first quantitative demonstration of low genetic relatedness in a highly eusocial species.
Among his other achievements involving honey bee research:
- Page and his students and colleagues isolated, characterized and validated the complementary sex determination gene of the honey bee; perhaps the most important paper yet published about the genetics of Hymenoptera.
- He and his students constructed the first genetic map of any social insect, demonstrating that the honey bee has the highest recombination rate of any eukaryotic organism mapped to date.
In addition, Page was personally involved in genome mappings of bumble bees, parasitic wasps and two species of ants. His most recent work focuses on the genetic bases to individuality in honey bees.
Page also built two modern apicultural labs (in Ohio and Arizona), major legacies that are centers of honey bee research and training. He has trained many hundreds of beekeepers, and continues to teach beekeeping even as provost of the largest public university in the United States. He is also the Foundation Chair of Life Sciences.
An internationally recognized scholar, Page is an elected foreign member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the oldest scientific academy of science, the Germany Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He was elected to Leopoldina, founded in 1652, for his pioneering research in behavioral genetics of honey bees.
Previously announced as keynote speakers: Nobel Laureautes Peter Agre (2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and Jules Hoffmann (2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). Agre is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. Hoffmann is a professor of integrative biology at the Strasbourg University Institute for Advanced Study. He is also emeritus research director of the French National Research Center and a past president of the French National Academy of Sciences.
The ICE conference, themed "Entomology without Borders," is co-chaired by Alvin Simmons research entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, S.C. More information on the conference is on its website at http://ice2016orlando.org/