- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The controversial antibacterial chemical is grabbing nationwide attention with the recent cover story of “Triclosan Under the Microsope” in Chemical Engineering News. The article quotes Bruce Hammock, a UC Davis distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“I'm getting love notes and hate mail,” he said, adding "“My colleagues and I are continuing to look at the positive and negative aspects of triclosan. It clearly has some negative effects on mammalian biology, but it is a very potent microbial and quite inexpensive, and relatively safe.”
Triclosan, first used in healthcare settings in the 1960s, is now found in products throughout the home—in everything from hand sanitizers, toothpastes, mouthwashes, deodorants and cosmetics to beddings, clothes, toys, carpets and trash bags.
Last month Minnesota became the first state to ban the ingredient in soaps and cleaning products. Other states concerned about the chemical's effects on human and environmental health may follow.
Hammock said that he and UC Davis colleagues molecular biologist David Mills and chemist Bruce German are now looking at the effects on gut bacteria.
“And, with Bob Tukey at UC San Diego, we are looking at enzyme induction in mammals and possible health risks,” Hammock said. Tukey, professor of pharmacology and chemistry and biochemistry, directs the UCSD Superfund Basic Research Program, while Hammock directs the UC Davis Superfund Program.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998 estimated that the U.S. produces more than 1 million pounds of triclosan annually, and that scientists can detect the chemical in waterways, aquatic organisms, and in human urine, blood and breast milk.
Concern over the controversial compound is swirling with the June 23rd publication of “Triclosan Under the Microscope.”
Hammock told author Jyllian Kemsley that when medical providers first started using triclosan as a surgical scrub, “it replaced some really scary compounds.”
He said that “Triclosan is much less toxic, more effective, and more biodegradable” than hexachlorophene and other common biocides of the time.
Wrote Kemsley: “But then triclosan made its way out of the operating room and into mass consumer products. In that context, its toxicity profile and environmental lifetime make the cost-benefit analysis murkier.”
“To me that doesn't say rush out and ban it,” Hammock told her, advocating careful consideration for mass use. He said washing hands with plain soap and water will likely fit most needs. Triclosan is a very effective anti-microbial but probably it is overused in many cases.
Kemsley wrote that some people may be more susceptible to harm, “such as those with genetic variations that reduce their ability to metabolize triclosan, leaving them with higher blood concentrations.” Some scientists worry if the toxicity level is worth it to reduce disease and also whether it promotes drug resistance.
Kemsley drew attention to the 2012 UC Davis study that shows that triclosan hinders cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction in mice and fish. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and authored by a 13-member research team headed by Isaac Pessah and Nipavan Chiamvimonvat of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Hammock, found that triclosan hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice.
“The effects of triclosan on cardiac function were really dramatic,” Chiamvimonvat, professor of cardiovascular medicine, related following the PNAS publication. “Although triclosan is not regulated as a drug, this compound acts like a potent cardiac depressant when administered at high doses in our models.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Meet the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. This photo was taken Monday, June 30, 2014, outside Briggs Hall. The team members include administrators, faculty, staff and students. Not all were present for the photo.
Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the department is first row, second from left.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
During his academic career, he conducted a varied program focused mainly on his role as liaison between the academic world of apiculture and real world beekeeping and crop pollination. Mussen continues to provide provides presentations at national, state, and county beekeepers' meetings. He continues to prepare and delivers information to growers at meetings organized by UC Farm Advisors and other agricultural organizations, and by state and federal agencies, and he writes a bi-monthly newsletter on bee-related topics, which is posted on his Departmental Web page.
Recently, specific researchers have solicited Eric's involvement on their projects, and he has studied the effects of contact and feeding exposure of honey bees to a mating disruption pheromone of the light brown apple moth. Currently, Eric is collecting flight data, dead and live foragers, and pollen samples for a national study on colony health as it relates to specific cropping practices while the colonies are in commercial pollination.
Eric Mussen writes a newsletter "from the UC Apiaries" and "Bee Briefs." They are located on his website and can be downloaded for free.
Related Links:
Eric Mussen Featured in Two-Part Series in American Bee Journal
Eric Mussen Honored at California State Beekeepers' Association
Eric Mussen Receives UC ANR Distinguished Service Award
Special Award from his Alma Mater
Contact:
Eric Mussen
Extension Apiculturist
Email: ecmussen@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-0472
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Niño currently works with Professor Christina Grozinger, director of the PSU Center for Pollinator Research. Niño holds a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA).
“We are excited about Elina joining the Bee Biology program at UC Davis,” said Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “We have been in a rebuilding mode for the past few years and Elina joins the team of Dr. Neal Williams, pollination ecology and bee biology with emphasis on foraging behavior; and Dr. Brian Johnson, genetics, behavior, evolution, and health of honey bees. Dr. Niño will conduct problem-solving research focused on honey bees and those crops in need of pollination services.”
“In addition, with the establishment of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, adjacent to our bee biology facility, Dr. Niño will be able to effectively provide outreach to backyard beekeepers that represent a growing enterprise in California," Parrella said. "In addition to current bee biology faculty, Elina will be supported by Dr. Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology who studies bumble bee behavior and systematics, and, of course, Dr. Eric Mussen whom she is replacing. We are pleased that Dr. Mussen has agreed to remain active in an emeritus capacity and will be advising Dr. Niño on both her extension program and research activities.”
Said Grozinger: “Dr. Niño is internationally recognized for her work on queen biology, and has collaborated broadly with several key honey bee researchers in the United States, including David Tarpy, Peter Teal, and Jerry Hayes, as well as researchers in Israel, Europe and Australia.”
Niño said she is very excited to start working closely with the California beekeepers and growers to develop sustainable approaches to bee management. "The UC Davis bee lab has such a long, outstanding contribute to this great program,” she said.
“Elina is a very accomplished scientist,” said Mussen. “Her research involves the reproductive processes involved in queen bee mating, including the impacts of oviduct manipulation, insemination volume and insemination substances. The induced changes include measurable behavioral, physiological and molecular alterations that occur, including differences in behavioral interactions between queens and worker bees.” Niño said considering her interests in honey bee queen health she anticipates fruitful collaborations with the California queen breeders.
In her research, Niño demonstrated that different components of the mating process (oviduct manipulation, insemination volume, and insemination substance) drive different post-mating changes in honey bee queens, Grozinger said. “Furthermore, she showed that queens signal their mating status and mating quality to worker bees through their pheromones, and workers preferentially respond to well-mated queens.”
As the recipient of prestigious USDA-NIFA postdoctoral fellowship, Niño expanded her program to study the socioeconomic factors affecting the success of local queen breeding programs, and spearheaded the annual PSU Honey Bee Queen Rearing Workshop, Grozinger said.
Niño received her bachelor's degree in animal science from Cornell University in 2003; her master's degree in entomology at North Carolina State University and her doctorate at PSU in Niño has a varied entomology background. While working on her bachelor's degree at Cornell, she was involved in studies on darkling beetle control in poultry houses, pan-trapped horse flies, and surveyed mosquitoes in New York state. While working toward her master's degree at North Carolina State University, she studied dung beetle nutrient cycling and its effect on grass growth, effects of methoprene (insect grown regular) on dung beetles in field and laboratory settings, and assisted in a workshop on forensic entomology.
As a USDA/NIFA postdoctoral fellow, Niño is contributing to honey bee stock improvement programs through her research on proteins in honey bee semen. She also is cooperatively reviewing the effects of Israeli Acute Bee Paralysis Virus, Deformed Wing Virus and Nosema on honey bees on a molecular level.
A member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), Niño received a number of high honors as an entomology graduate student. She won the coveted John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Award from the Eastern Branch of ESA in 2013; first place in a poster student competition for the President's Prize at the ESA Indianapolis meeting in 2006, and also a first-place poster award at the North Carolina Entomological Society's Raleigh meeting in 2006.
Other awards include the 2012 Student Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, Toxicology, and Molecular Biology from the International Congress on Insect Neurochemistry and Neurophysiology; 2012 PSU Alumni Association Dissertation Award; 2011 Lillian and Alex Feir Graduate Student Travel Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry or Molecular Biology, Entomological Foundation; 2011 Eastern Apicultural Society Student Award; 2011 Lorenzo Langstroth Fellowship, PSU Center for Pollinator Research; 2011 Michael E. Duke Memorial Scholarship, PSU Department of Entomology; and 2010 Sahakian Family Fund for Ag Research Travel Award, PSU College of Ag Sciences.
Niño placed first in a student paper presentation at the 2008 American Bee Research Conference in Sacramento, and received a 2007 scholarship from the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Sacramento. The North Carolina Entomological Society named her the 2006 Outstanding MS Student of the Year.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Gilik graduated this year with double degrees--a bachelor's degree in entomology and a bachelor's degree in neurobiology, physiology and behavior--in a five-year program.
“Susan's undergraduate GPA is 3.589,” said Professor Sharon Lawler, who nominated her for the award. “She completed an impressive 231 units, in addition to arriving with 40 Advanced Placement (AP) units.”
Gilik, who grew up in San Diego, traces her interest in entomology to her childhood. “My mom tells me that I have been preoccupied with the little animals since I could walk,” Gilik said. “She said that I would sit and watch the little guys for hours. As I grew, I got into rearing caterpillars. My mother was a hobbyist rose breeder and grew many plants. She was very supportive and when we found caterpillars chomping her plants, she let me keep them and feed them her plants.”
While rearing caterpillars, young Susan marveled over their physiology and development. “From the delicate and difficult task of shedding their skins to the dissolution of their internal workings during metamorphis, it seemed difficult being an insect. Later, when I learned more about evolution and ecology, it started to hit me how important insects are for pollination, in the spread of disease and as food for other animals.”
“I loved the entomology classes here ... there were so many on such varying topics! I really enjoyed that I could learn both about physiology and ecology/evolution of insects. It was great to be taught by professors who had a lot of experience--and fun stories--on the topics they were teaching.”
In addition to her studies, Gilik served as a student firefighter with the UC Davis Fire Department. “During high school I became interested in becoming a firefighter," she said in a quote on the department's website. "I found out about the program after coming to Davis and saw that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “
Her favorite part of the student firefighter program? "I love the camaraderie. Everyone puts in an enormous effort to help each other out.”
This summer Gilik is assisting with the David Rizzo laboratory research in the Sierra Nevada on forest fire effects on plant pathogens--“how native pathogens of conifers are affected by native fire regime,” she said. Rizzo is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology. His research focuses on the ecology and management of exotic and native forest tree diseases, primarily in California ecosystems.
Her future goals? “I want to try out as many different things as I can before making any decisions and going back to school to start my career.”
Recent recipients of Outstanding Entomology Undergraduate Awards:
2012: Ivana Li
2011: Danielle Wishon
In addition, Stephanie Calloway received the 2012 Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Senior in Entomology and Ivana Li won the 2013 Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Senior in Entomology.
