Nov. 5, 2012
The awards went to Jenny Carlson, avian malaria research, and Sandra "Sandy" Olkowski and Kelly Liebman, dengue research. Hazeltine's three sons, Craig of Scottsdale, Ariz; Jeff of Los Angeles; and Lee of Woodland recently visited the UC Davis campus to congratulate the winners and learn more about their research.
Carlson studies avian malaria with UC Davis associate professor/medical entomologist Anthony “Anton” Cornel, headquartered at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Parlier. Olkowski studies dengue with major professor/medical entomologist Thomas Scott. Liebman, also a graduate student of Thomas Scott's, now has her doctorate in entomology and is working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga.
Carlson received $2000; Olkowski, $1000' and Liebman, $580.
Carlson's research, titled “Culicine Vectorial Capacity and Its Implications for Transmission of Avian Malaria in Western United States,” involves host-feeding preferences, vector abundance and vectorial competence.
Carlson described malaria as “one of the most devastating diseases to humans” but it “also affects a wide range of other mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.”
Carlson, who received a Hazeltine Memorial Research Fellowship in 2010 and 2011, earned her bachelor of science degree in zoology from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, and her master's degree biology from San Francisco State University.
Olkowski's proposal is titled Association Between Preexisting DENV Immunity and Severe Disease Due to DENV-2 Infection in Iquitos, Peru.”
“Dengue fever is the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease in the world, with an estimated 50 to 100 million cases each year and 2.6 billion people at risk,“ Olkowski said. Illness is caused by infection with any of the four distinct viral serotypes (DENV-1, 2, 3 and 4).
“Severe severe disease was largely absent until introduction of a novel genotype of DENV-2 in 2010-11,” Olkowski said. Her research involves identifying “cohort participants who were infected with DENV-2 during the outbreak.”
“I will then use statistical models to evaluate the relationship between their serological history—by number of infections and serotype sequence—and clinical outcomes. Of particular interest are severe outcomes in persons with a single type of prior antibody, to determine if there was a spike in severity with second infection, as predicted by dengue epidemiology theory.”
Olkowski, who is seeking her doctorate in entomology with a major interest in medical entomology and public health, received a President's Undergraduate Fellowship in May 2011.
Liebman joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta following her exit seminar on “Implications of Heterogeneities in Mosquito and Human Populations on Dengue Virus Transmission in Iquitos, Peru.” She lived in Iquitos for a year while doing her research.
“Over the past three decades, dengue virus (DENV) as emerged as one of the most important arthropod-borne viral infections of humans, causing as many as 50 million infections worldwide each year,” Liebman wrote in her application. “The mosquito vector of DENV, Aedes aegypti, is exceedingly efficient because it feeds frequently and almost exclusively on humans.”
“An improved understanding of the distribution of the bites among people in Iquitos will allow me to estimate differential risk of infection based on exposure to mosquito bites and significantly improve understanding of local DENV transmission dynamics,” she wrote.
Liebman, who received Hazeltine Memorial Fellowship Awards in 2009 and 2011, obtained her her master's degree in public health from Yale University and her bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The Hazeltine Memorial Fellowship Awards memorialize William “Bill” Hazeltine (1926-1994), who managed the Lake County Mosquito Abatement District from 1961-64 and the Butte County Mosquito Abatement District from 1966-1992. He was an ardent supporter of the judicious use of public health pesticides to protect public health. He continued work on related projects until his death in 1994.
Hazeltine studied entomology in the UC Berkeley graduate program from 1950-53, and received his doctorate in entomology from Purdue University in 1962.
He maintained close ties with UC Davis entomologists. UC Davis medical entomologist Bruce Eldridge eulogized him at the 2005 American Mosquito Control Association conference “as a man who made a difference.” His talk, illustrated with photos, was published in the 2006 edition of the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. (See PDF)
"He was a medical entomologist who had a varied career in the field of mosquito biology and control, but he will forever be remembered as a man who fought in the trenches of the pesticide controversy from 1960 until the end of his life, and who made the safe and efficient use of pesticides in public health a personal crusade," Eldridge said.
Eldridge noted that Hazeltine "was an advocate for the use of mosquito control to protect people from mosquitoes and the disease agents they transmit, and he believed chemical control to be a necessary part of the means to accomplish this. He also considered himself an environmentalist, and billed himself as such on his business cards and on his signature block. He had a vast knowledge of pesticides and pesticide legislation, and a strong belief in the scientific basis for public policy issues related to the safe and effective use of pesticides. Because the federal Endangered Species Act influenced mosquito control, he became an authority on this as well."
Eldridge described him as "an effective manager and leader at Butte County. Those who took the trouble to get to know him developed a strong allegiance to him. Most appreciated his absolute honesty and fairness. Not only was Bill honest to a fault, he expected it of people who work for him as well."
Hazeltine, born Sept. 4, 1926 in San Jose, was the youngest of six children born to Karl Snyder Hazeltine and Rachel Josephine Crawford Hazeltine. Karl, a graduate of the University of California, served on the faculty of San Jose State University, where he taught agricultural and natural science. Rachel, a graduate of San Jose State, was a teacher.
Previous recipients:
2011: Brittany Nelms Mills, Kelly Liebman and Jenny Carlson (see story)
2010: Tara Thiemann and Jenny Carlson (see story)
2009: Kelly Liebman and Wei Xu (See story)
2008: Ashley Horton and Tara Thiemann (See story)
2007: Lisa Reimer and Jacklyn Wong (See story)
2006: Christopher Barker and Tania Morgan (See story)
2005: Nicole Mans
2004: Sharon Minnick
2003: Hannah Burrack
2002: Holly Ganz and Andradi Villalobos
2001: Laura Goddard and Linda Styer
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Nov. 1, 2012
A trio of entomologists affiliated with the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, recently published a humorous take on the evolutionary development and history of the 646 fictional species depicted in the Pokémon media over the last 16 years.
“We made a very real phylogeny of the very fake Pokémon creatures,” commented lead author Matan Shelomi, the UC Davis entomology graduate student who conceived the idea.
The article, “A Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of the Pokémon,” appeared in the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), a tongue-in-cheek journal meant “to make people laugh and then think,” according to the editors. In keeping with the “laugh-and-then-think” concept, the journal also awards the highly anticipated IG Nobel Prizes.
Shelomi, a graduate of Harvard where the IG Nobel Prizes are awarded, said he based his idea “in part on other AIR papers like the phylogeny of Chia Pets and the taxonomic description of Barney the Dinosaur.”
Devoted Pokémon fans know that Pokémon, which means “Pocket Monsters,” is the 1996 brainchild of video game developer Satoshi Tajiri of Japan, who collected insects in his childhood and initially toyed with the idea of becoming an entomologist. Today the Nintendo-owned Pokémon is the world’s second most successful video game-based media franchise, eclipsed only by Nintendo’s Mario.
Until now, however, no one has traced the evolutionary history of the 646 fictional species, let alone develop a 16-generation phylogenetic or evolutionary tree.
“I had a lull in his dissertation research and decided to spend the weekends and downtime making this phylogenym,” said Shelomi, who is studying,” said Shelomi, who is studying for his doctorate in entomology with Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis. “It took at least a month to actually collect all the data, which I did manually by scrolling through Pokémon websites.”
His interest in Pokémon? “I’ve played the Pokémon Stadium games and watched some of the TV shows when I was in junior high,” he said, describing the influence as strong. “I was in the right target audience range right when Pokémania was hitting the United States, and everyone I knew could recognize a Pikachu on sight.”
“What I love in Pokémon is similar to what I love in entomology--and I suspect Tajiri would agree with me,” Shelomi said. “It provides me with a wide array of unique and colorful creatures to study, all of which are connected in certain fascinating ways. It's a fun way to tie biology with imagination; I just decided to take it a step further and make a paper out of it.”
After collecting the data, Shelomi sent it to Andrew Richards, a junior specialist at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, for the actual phylogram making. When the AIR editors asked for illustrations, Shelomi sought out artist Ivana Li, a fifth-year entomology student and president of the UC Davis Entomology Club. Li, who works part-time at the Bohart Museum, honed her talents as a student cartoonist for the Schurr High School, Montebello, newspaper.
The trio added a fourth co-author, Yukinari Okido, whom Pokémon fans know as the name of one of the fictional Pokémon professors from the game/TV show.
“This was a very clever exercise and drew on the talents of some very gifted students,” Kimsey said. Their phylogenetic tree can be seen in the Bohart Museum, located at 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
Richards described working on the project as “fun, educational and nostalgic.”
“Matan sent me the information to process, I plugged it into a phylogeny program, and let it run, simulating generations for about a day,” Richard said. “I took the results and generated a tree. That took some time to add pictures and some color-coding. I wanted the tree to look nice and be pretty easy to interpret.”
The project also embraces educational elements. “I think it can be a good way to explain phylogeny to people with no background in it, since the characteristics and traits used here are easier to grasp than those used in molecular phylogeny or even those done using physical characters,” Richards said.
Richards, who finds playing Pokémon games “both fun and creative,” said the project included a nostalgic aspect, too. “I remember when they first came out and loving them then. When Matan told me about his idea for doing this I thought it would be fun. I wanted to see how well the data would come out, considering everything is just made up by the game makers without any thought to phylogeny or actual evolutionary relationships.”
“It turned out surprisingly well given the data we put into it,” Richard said. “Things fell into good places and it looks very nice.”
Li, who has played Pokémon “for at least a decade,” considers the game and the monsters “pretty creative, especially ones with an actual biological basis. Of course, breathing fire and shooting lightning is pretty cool, too.”
“I like the overall project,” Li said, “because it takes a rather extreme amount of nerdiness to appreciate. However, you have to admit that it is pretty interesting to be able to apply a phylogeny to a bunch of game characters. I really enjoy the simplicity of Pokémon because a lot of people can understand it and relate to it.”
Her sister, a teacher and an even more avid Pokémon fan, “is actually able relate to a lot of her students due to her knowledge of Pokémon,” Li pointed out. “There are aspects to cartoons and video games that might have other applications later on in your life that you would never expect.”
The UC Davis entomologists prefaced the journal article by relating why they did it. “With the phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships of the kingdoms Animalia, Plantae, and Fungi mostly out of the way, attention is now turning toward the Monstrasinu, commonly known as ‘Pocket Monsters’ or ‘Pokémon’ for short. Starting from the 151 original ‘species’ described by Japanese scientist Satoshi Tajiri in a 1996 monograph, Pokémon science today continues to be a rewarding field for taxonomists. Every three to four years, several new species are discovered and described almost simultaneously. A total of 646 Pokémon have been described, most of them in Japan.”
“This paper,” they wrote, “represents the first attempt to create a quantitative phylogeny of the Pokémon, using the underlying assumption that Pokémon evolved via natural selection independently from the animals and plants more familiar to Western zoologists. The goal was to apply modern evolutionary theory and techniques to a field previously limited to pre- Darwinian methods of inquiry.”
The trio acknowledged that some of the specimens are “threatened by the Pokémon fighting rings that are growing rapidly in popularity, particularly among urban youth.”
They also agreed that disagreements over species concepts exist, and that “several sexually dimorphic taxa have had males and females identified as separate species,” offering the examples of Nidoqueen and Nikoking.
“Further complicating the issue is the fact that Pokémon are quite willing to interbreed successfully,” they wrote, adding that “the lack of post-zygotic reproductive isolation is one thing, but how a 400-kilogram Wailord is able to mate with an 11-kilogram Skitty at all remains a mystery.”
As to methods used, they revealed that undergraduate, high school and primary-school aged interns/ trainers from Japan and New York state captured wild Pokémon. “Trainers may or may not have used their Pokémon for combat during the course of their research,” they quipped.
The result: a phylogenetic or evolutionary tree detailing 16 million generations of simulated Pokémon evolution. They concluded that “Pokémon life began in the water, with Pokémon similar to lampreys and bony fishes being among the earliest to reach their present state.” Terrestrial life, they said, rose independently three times.
“This paper,” they summarized, “thus sheds considerable doubt on whether Pokémon use DNA to transmit genetic information, and further suggests the Monstrasinu are a unique domain of life.”
What about reader reaction? “The paper is slowly making the rounds,” Shelomi said. “We've had quite a few people disagree with the tree, as some of the conclusions violate Pokémon canon, and we do have the usual phylogenetic problems of long-branch attraction, etc. The disconnect between the tree and Pokémon mating groups is a problem, but I argue that the Biological Species Concept should not be assumed for Pokémon and I stand by my tree.”
“So far, one scientist--a linguist in Japan--has asked for a copy of the dataset to use in a class on phylogram building, and he apparently came up with a different tree.”
“It would be nice to see a wide set of articles responding to this one,” Shelomi said. “I think it would be quite easy to fill a journal of Pokémon science, although much harder to justify creating one.”
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 31, 2012
The seminar will take place from 12:10 to 1 a.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Building. Host is George Kamita of the Bruce Hammock lab.
Ohkawa says in his abstract:
“Baculoviruses (named for their shape-baculum being Latin for 'rod') are insect viruses that have been studied as potential pest control agents, as they infect caterpillars (the larval stage of butterflies and moths), many of which are agricultural pests. These viruses have DNA genomes, and they replicate in the cell nucleus. Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is the most well-studied baculovirus. One of the unique features of AcMNPV infection is that viral particles, upon entry into cells, uses host actin for transport, assembling actin filaments and using the force of this assembly, generating actin 'comet tails' for propulsion through the cell cytoplasm.”
“Another unique, and quite dramatic feature of AcMNPV infection is that the virus causes an accumulation of actin in the cell nucleus. And when the virus begins to replicate, generating new progeny, a massive accumulation of actin filaments can be seen within the nucleus- a very abnormal phenomenon. Our recent work has demonstrated that newly synthesized viral particles also assemble actin for transport, and this actin assembly is critical for how the virus can escape through the nuclear membrane, and how the virus moves through the cytoplasm in order to escape the cell.”
Of his research, Ohkawa says: “The goal of my research is to define the mechanisms by which a baculovirus, Autographa californica M Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) manipulates the host cell actin cytoskeleton throughout the viral replication cycle. This work is carried out at the genetic level, with the manipulation of the AcMNPV viral genome, including gene deletions, gene tagging, and the introduction of fluorescent protein constructs, as well as at the cellular level where microscopic examination of infected cells allows elucidation of how the virus affects cellular actin. Specifically, I have used fluorescence to label viral nucleocapsids, which when infected into cultured insect cells expressing fluorescent actin, have revealed that the virus uses actin-based motility for transit to the nucleus.”
“My ongoing research includes studying how AcMNPV uses actin-based motility for pre-replication transit from cell-to-cell, as well as determining the function of nuclear-localized actin and actin-based motility during the post-replication/egress stage.”
Ohkawa received his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1997 from UC Davis, where he was housed in the lab of Susumu Maeda in the Department of Entomology. “There I learned about baculovirus molecular biology and the genetic manipulation of the viral genome,” he said.
Following graduation, he began post-doctoral research in the lab of Loy Volkman at UC Berkeley, where he became acquainted with the role of actin during viral replication. “This introduction into cell biology was strengthened by a collaboration with the lab of Matt Welch, also at UC Berkeley. Upon Loy Volkman's retirement, I moved to the Welch lab, where I began my current projects, which are more intensively cell biology-based. Our synthesis of molecular virology and cell biology have led to unprecedented advances in examining viral mechanisms of transport, and the viral usage of the cell actin cytoskeleton.”
Ohkawa has occupied his current position at UC Berkeley since 2006. He is a member of the American Society for Virology and the American Association for Cell Biology.
Among his most recent peer-reviewed publications:
- Misra S, Buratowski RM, Ohkawa T, and Rio DC 1993. Cytotype control of Drosophila P element transposition: genomic position determines maternal repression, Genetics. 135, 785-800.
- Ohkawa T, McCutchen BF, Hanzlik TN, Kamita SG, Sasagawa H, Choudary PV, Hammock BD, and Maeda S, 1994. Stage independent insecticidal effects of a recombinant baculovirus on Bombyx mori larvae. Appl. Entomol. Zool. 29: 442-448.
- Ohkawa T, Majima K, and Maeda S, 1994. A cysteine protease encoded by the baculovirus Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. Journal of Virology 68: 6619-6625.
- Ohkawa T, and Volkman LE, 1999. Nuclear F-Actin is Required for AcMNPV Nucleocapsid Morphogenesis. Virology 264: 1-4.
- Hom LG, Ohkawa T, Trudeau D, and Volkman LE, 2002. Autographa californica M Nucleopolyhedrovirus ProV-CATH is Activated during Infected Cell Death. Virology 296: 212-218.
- Ohkawa T, Rowe AR, and Volkman LE, 2002. Identification of Six Autographa californica Multicapsid Nucleopolyhedrovirus Early Genes That Mediate Nuclear Localization of G-Actin. Journal of Virology 76: 12281-12289.
- Zhang J, Ohkawa T, Washburn JO, and Volkman LE, 2005. Effects of Ac150 on virulence and pathogenesis of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus in noctuid hosts. Journal of General Virology 86: 1619-1627.
- Ohkawa T, Washburn JO, Sitapara R, Sid E, and Volkman LE, 2005. Specific binding of Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus occlusion-derived virus to midgut cells of Heliothis virescens larvae is mediated by products of pif genes Ac119 and Ac022 but not by Ac115. Journal of Virology 79: 15258-15264.
- Goley ED, Ohkawa T, Mancuso J, Woodruff JB, D'Alessio JA, Cande WZ, Volkman LE, and Welch MD, 2006. Dynamic nuclear actin assembly by Arp2/3 complex and a baculovirus WASP-like protein. Science 314: 464-467.
- Ohkawa T, Volkman LE, and Welch MD, 2010. Actin-based motility drives baculovirus transit to the nucleus and cell surface. Journal of Cell Biology 190: 187-195.
Seminar co-chairs are assistant professors Joanna Chiu and Brian Johnson. Under the coordination of James R. Carey, professor of entomology, Ohkawa's seminar will be videotaped and posted at a later date on UCTV. (See the index of previous Department of Entomology seminars posted on UCTV.)
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 25, 2012
"Aedes aegypti is an important vector of human diseases, such as dengue fever and yellow fever," he says in his abstract. "Its control has been attempted by eliminating breeding sites, using predators and with chemical insecticides. However, such control is still difficult because of operational limitations and the development of insect resistance. Therefore, Bacillus thuringiensis has been used for decades instead of physical and chemical control methods. B. thuringiensis israelensis is highly active against Ae aegypti. The high insecticidal activity and the low toxicity to other organisms have resulted in the rapid use of B. thuringiensis as an alternative for the control of mosquito populations. B. thuringiensis israelensis produces a variety of toxins that act synergistically to cause toxicity to larval populations."
"The seminar will discuss our current understanding of the mode of action of these toxins and provide evidence on how resistance to these toxins has not occurred in Aedes mosquitoes in the field even though B. thuringiensis israelensis has been used for more than three decades."
Professor Gill’s laboratory has two principal research foci. "The first area attempts to elucidate the mode of action of insecticidal toxins from the Gram positive bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis and Clostridium bifermantans," he says. "This research aims to identify novel toxins, and to gain a molecular understanding of how these toxins interact with cellular targets and thereby causing toxicity. The second area focuses on understanding mosquito midgut and Malpighian tubules function, in particular ion and nutrient transport, and changes that occur following a blood meal."
Gill, who received his doctorate from UC Berkeley, joined the Department of Entomology faculty at UC Riverside in 1983. He helped establish the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience and also served as chair. Currently is the co-editor of the Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
A noted scientist and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Gill received his doctorate in insecticide toxicology in 1973 from UC Berkeley. See his website.
Assistant professors Joanna Chiu and Brian Johnson are organizing the seminars. All the noonhour sessions are being recorded for UCTV. (See the index of previous Department of Entomology seminars posted on UCTV.)
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 22, 2012
This is part of the Entomology 1 and UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program course taught by Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, co-founders of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
“We welcome all members of the UC Davis community to participate, especially those in Insect Science, Design and Techno-Cultural Studies,” said Brady, the creator of the Insect News Network.
“I will be stepping beyond the standard boundaries of insect science into the emerging, unexplored territory of cultural entomology,” Brady said. “Since over 50 percent of the world's population now lives in cities-- and more than 250 million Americans live in or around urban areas -- a bold new interpretation of the human-insect interdependence is essential. There is ample evidence that this is already in the works: cultural entomology examines the microcosm in over 60 fields of human endeavor not traditionally examined by insect science.
“In this talk I will offer vivid examples in architecture, tattoos, grafitti, video games, digital design, media, fashion, and urban tribes,” he said, adding that he will frame the discussion “in a contemporary context for the student populace, citing entertainment celebrities, blockbuster video games and films, and cultural luminaries who are re-defining our concepts about life on Earth.”
“I set the stage for the catalysis of an urban re-evolution regarding Insects, spiders and other organisms that run the planet. We will discuss practical, compelling and sublime examples of the influence of insects, and the origins of the insect tribe.”
The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded in 2006, is a pioneering program in the use of an art-science fusion paradigm in undergraduate education and community outreach.
Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is the associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Billick, a self-described “rock artist,” is an alumna of UC Davis (bachelor of science degree in genetics in 1973 and her master’s degree in fine arts in 1977).
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
