- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Attardo, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2017 from the Yale School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, “excels not only as a researcher, but as a teacher, mentor, scientific illustrator, macro photographer, videographer and science communicator,” said UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock in his letter of nomination.
The Attardo lab monitors the dynamics of vector insects at the levels of physiology, population genetics and environmental interactions.
“I have known Geoff personally since July 2017 and I have always admired his scientific expertise, his unbridled enthusiasm, his many talents, and his scores of accomplishments,” wrote Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the entomology department and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. “He leads a highly successful research group that focuses on the molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology of medically important insects. His work, encompassing his research, teaching/mentorship, public service and outreach, brings international recognition to our department, college, university, the UC system and the entomological world.”
Eleven Western States. PBESA will recognize Attardo at an April 12 awards luncheon during its annual meeting, set April 10-13 in the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country. (link to https://www.entsoc.org/membership/branches/pacific/meeting.) PBESA is comprised of 11 Western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming), parts of Canada and Mexico, and seven U. S. territories. (Link to https://www.entsoc.org/membership/branches/pacific)
Attardo received a Ruth Kirshstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the molecular and biochemical physiology of tsetse fly lactation. His results “broadened our understanding of the physiology of live birth and lactation,” said Hammock, adding that his work “was the first to bring to bear state-of-the-art/high-throughput genetic, molecular and biochemical techniques.”
The co-principal investigator of a five-year NIH R01 grant, Attardo led a multinational collaboration resulting in the production, annotation and functional analysis of the first tsetse fly genome sequence.
Attardo is also a talented macro photographer and scientific illustrator, Hammock noted. Science editors featured his tsetse photo on their cover and used his illustrations throughout the article to show the tsetse's unique physiology. Attardo's work also drew high-profile coverage twice in the New York Times.
Attardo's current work focuses on defining the mating physiology of tsetse flies. He uses X-ray based MicroCT scanning to generate high resolution 3-dimensional images of tsetse reproductive tissues to understand the morphological specializations that enable live birth and lactation in tsetse flies. (See Attardo lab)
Attardo collaborated with the KQED (Public Broadcasting Service) “Deep Look” team to produce a YouTube video featuring macro footage and illustrations of tsetse live birth, blood feeding, and mating. The video, winner of a 2020 Northern California Emmy Award, has scored 6.2 million views, as of Jan. 4, 2022.
In a letter of support, molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, wrote in part:
“Dr. Attardo's internationally recognized research program on the physiology and genomics of insect vectors is creative, significant, and always of the highest quality and rigor. His research program seamlessly integrates fundamental mechanistic work and applied research to study physiology and behavior of insects that vector devastating human diseases. His teaching and mentoring program is innovative, inclusive, and he is fiercely supportive of his trainees and junior colleagues. Finally, he is passionate about outreach and extension because he understands the importance and value of transferring technologies from his lab to the field and extending information to benefit stakeholders locally and internationally.”
Very Effective Teaching Style. For the past two years, Chiu and Attardo have been co-teaching an undergraduate animal biology course on “Applications, Social and Ethical Issues in Animal Biology.” Chiu praised his ability to “engage the students” and his “very effective teaching style in helping students build critical thinking skills and confidence.”
Professor Immo Hansen of the Department of Biology, Institute of Applied Biosciences at New Mexico State University, echoed the praise. “Geoff is a prolific scholar with more than 55 publications and an h-index of 30 a value that one might expect for a full professor in the entomology field (my own h-index is 29). His early work on mosquito regulation of gene expression and nutritional signaling pathways as well as his later works on Tsetse genomics, nutrition, milk production, and symbiont interactions are highly original and represent significant increases in our knowledge in insect reproductive physiology.”
“He led the effort to sequence and annotate the genome of the Tsetse fly which resulted in a Science paper,” Hansen pointed out. “Geoff is a leading expert in the field of the molecular basis of insect reproduction (of tsetse flies) which is reflected by the large number of invited presentations he has given over the years. His truly innovative research in the field puts him at the forefront of researchers in his discipline.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Erdosh will receive a $1000 award and waived registration for the PBESA annual meeting April 10-13 in Santa Rosa.
The award memorializes a research geneticist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Wapato, Wash., with “an unmatched passion for mentoring undergraduate students in their research,” PBESA announced. Garczynski (1960-2019) specialized in the molecular genetics of codling moths and other tree fruit pests.
Erdosh is a researcher in the lab of community ecologist Louie Yang, a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology professor and a co-founder and co-director of RSPIB. “Gwen has been particularly motivated to examine the effects of smoke on insect olfaction and behavior, and recently received a Provost's Undergraduate Fellowship (PUF) to support this work,” wrote Professor Yang in his letter of recommendation. She is developing “a Y-tube olfactometer apparatus to test some of the hypotheses she has been developing. She has been amazingly creative, innovative and independent in this work, and I'm excited to see what she learns.”
“Gwen has the skills and motivation to excel in research,” Yang noted. “She is extraordinarily knowledgeable about insect diversity and has strong and persistent interest in research. The project that Gwen is focused on is of both applied and fundamental importance, and her latest iteration of this experiment offers a good first step towards assessing the ecological importance of wildfire smoke for insects.”
Gwentomologist. Erdosh, known as “Gwentomologist” on Instagram, with 24,000 followers, anticipates receiving her bachelor's degree in 2023.
The awards packet required a two-page essay outlining the applicant's current research and future career aspirations, and a letter of nomination from a research mentor or professor. Judges scored the applicants on such attributes as energy, passion, innovation and initiative, creativity and originality an potential impact.
In her essay, Erdosh wrote that getting accepted into RSPIB and becoming a member of the Yang lab “has given me the opportunity to get critical research experience as an undergrad. My current research project aims to determine whether an insect's ability to locate food is hindered by ambient smoke."
Gwen, a 2018 graduate ofLos Gatos High School, Santa Clara County, decided at age 12 to pursue a career in entomology. She attended aBioBoot camp hosted by theBohart Museum of Entomology and then at age 16, interned with JasonDombroskie at Cornell University. Those "experiences with lab work and fieldwork led me to decide that I wanted to go into research." Her work included identifying microlepidoptra in the family Tortricidae; sampling monarch butterflies for Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) spores; catching and tagging the gray petaltail dragonfly (Petalurid) at a local state park; and collecting, identifying and presenting moths for a Moth Night program at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Costa Rico Internship. At age 17, Gwen completed a five-week internship in the summer of 2018 at the Monteverde Butterfly Gardens in Costa Rica, where she studied insects, conducted tours, and cared for the arthropods in the insectarium
Erdosh enrolled in the UC Davis entomology program in 2019. "I am interested in both insect ecology and systematics, and I plan on going to graduate school for a PhD in entomology," Erdosh wrote in her essay. "I aspire to be a professor who not only carries out unique and meaningful research, but is also a true educator and role model for students, inspiring young scientists to pursue their ambitions and remain curious about the natural world. More specifically about entomology, I want to show people the beauty and peculiarity of arthropods; I love public outreach and want to spread my passion for insects to others. While I did not know Dr. Stephen Garczynski personally, I would like to think that he was this kind of person, and that I would have looked up to him, as I do my own mentor Louie Yang."
Erdosh launched her Instagram account in 2013 to share her passion for moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera). “Back then, it was one of only a few accounts that focused on such a niche interest," she said in a recent interview. On her account, she posts her macro images, with detailed captions about the featured insect. "My goal is to not only teach others, but also learn a lot myself. I also post fun and engaging videos to encourage others to pursue entomology. Many times, people have told me that my page helped them decide that they wanted to pursue entomology as a career! I love being able to spread the love of insects to others, and will continue to be active on my page.”
Additionally, she maintains a YouTube account as “gwentomologist.”
Erdosh was recently featured on Sacramento Channel 31's Good Day Sacramento in a segment on "Bringing Bugs to Instagram." (See Part 1 and Part 2)
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Her virtual seminar begins at 4:10 p.m., Pacific Time, on Wednesday, March 9, announced seminar coordinator and nematologist Shahid Siddique, assstant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"Phytonematodes secrete a suite of effectors to modulate developmental programs of their hosts to cause disease," Mitchum says in her abstract. 'In this talk, I will highlight what we are learning about these effectors and the tricks they use to accomplish their goals."
Along with colleague Lisa Beamer of the University of Missouri, Mitchum is co-directing a four-year $1.2 million grant from the joint National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Plant-Biotic Interactions Program "to help combat a devastating soybean pathogen," according to a January 2022 news article in the Johnson City Press, Tenn. "The soybean cyst nematode, a microscopic roundworm, is responsible for annual crop losses of $1 billion in the U.S. alone," the news story relates.
Mitchum's research focuses "on molecular plant-nematode interactions with an emphasis on the sedentary endoparasitic cyst and root-knot nematodes," Mitchum says on her website. "Pathosystems include cyst (Heterodera glycines) nematode on soybean, cyst (Vittitadera zeaphila) nematode on corn, and root-knot (Meloidogyne spp.) nematodes on soybean, cotton, and peanut. We utilize the model plant Arabidopsis to accelerate our studies to dissect the molecular basis of parasitism by cyst (Heterodera schachtii) and root-knot nematodes. Our work addresses plant responses during compatible and incompatible plant-nematode interactions, the identification and functional analysis of nematode stylet-secreted effector proteins, and developmental reprogramming of host root cells via peptide mimicry and phytohormone manipulation. I work closely with plant breeders to develop high yielding, nematode resistant varieties. Current efforts are also focused on translating basic discoveries to develop novel approaches for nematode resistance in crop plant."
Mitchum received her bachelor's degree in biology in 1993 from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Wash., and her master's degree in plant pathology from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1995. She obtained her doctorate in plant pathology, with a minor in biotechnology, from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, in 2001. Mitchum served as a postdoctoral fellow with the Developmental, Cell and Molecular Biology Group at Duke University in 2003.
For any seminar technical issues, Siddique may be reached at ssiddique@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The display will include:
- What's in the jar?
- Celery infected with root-knot nematodes
- Tree swallow infected with Diplotriaena
- White-tailed deer eye infected with a Thelazia species
- Peach root infected with root-knot nematodes
- Mormon crickets infected with Gordius robustus
- Lettuce infected with root-knot nematodes
- Garlic damaged by Ditylenchus dipsaci
- Horse stomach infected with three parasites: Parascaris (roundworms), tapeworms, and botfly larvae.
- Grape roots infected with root-knot nematodes
- Sweet potato infected with root-knot nematodes
- Sugar beet infected with cyst nematodes
- Peach root infected with cyst nematodes
- Sugar beet infected with root-knot nematodes
- Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworm)
- Minke whale infected infected with ascaridoid nematodes
- Heartworm of dog
The event is set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UC Davis Conference Center, 555 Alumni Lane. Admission and parking are free, but visitors must adhere to the COVID-19 Campus Ready guidelines. Masks will be required in accordance with campus policies, organizers said. Visitors can also sign up at the Conference Center for limited tours. Several museums or collections will be offering tours. (See news story)
"Plant-parasitic nematodes are destructive pests causing losses of billions of dollars annually," Siddique says on his website. "Economic, health, and environmental considerations make natural host plant resistance a preferred strategy for nematode control, but there are limitations to this approach. In many cases, the resistance conferred by resistance genes is partial, and some of the nematodes are able to survive. Similarly, nematode resistance genes are often effective against only one or a few species, whereas plants are exposed to several pathogens in the field. Another concern is the emergence of pathotypes that can overcome resistance. In view of all these limitations, it is important to identify additional mechanisms and tools that can be used to develop novel and sustainable approaches to the management of nematodes."
"Research in the Siddique lab focuses on basic as well as applied aspects of interaction between parasitic nematodes and their host plants," Siddique points out on his website. "The long-term object of our research is not only to enhance our understanding of molecular aspects of plant–nematode interaction but also to use this knowledge to provide new resources for reducing the impact of nematodes on crop plants in California."
Coomer, a second-year doctorate student, recently won a worldwide competition competition sponsored by the International Federation of Nematology Societies (IFNS) for her three-minute thesis on root-knot nematodes. She delivered her video presentation virtually on “Trade-Offs Between Virulence and Breaking Resistance in Root-Knot Nematodes.” She will be awarded a busary and plaque at the 7th International Congress of Nematology (ICN), set May 1-6 in Antibes, France.
Coomer earlier was selected one of the nine finalists in the 22-participant competition, vying against eight other graduate students from the University of Idaho, Moscow; and universities in England, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Kenya, Belgium and South Africa.
The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is traditionally held on the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend. However, last year's event was virtual, and this year's event is centrally located in an exposition. For more information, access the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website and/or connect with Instagram,Twitter, and Facebook.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The research appears in the February edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
The fossil, from the Cretaceous geological period and now part of the American Museum of Natural History collection, “was an extremely cool find,” said Boudinot, who is researching evolutionary and comparative anatomy in Jena under a two-year Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship. He received his UC Davis doctorate in entomology in 2020.
Boudinot, the lead researcher and corresponding author of the paper, describes the fossil as a “relatively large piece of Kachin amber containing three wingless adult female ants plus a wingless pupa.”
“The key points are that there is a remarkable diversity of evolutionarily intermediate or ‘missing link' ants in the Cretaceous fossil record, and folks have basically assumed that they were eusocial because wingless females—presumptive workers—had been found,” Boudinot said. “The fossil we discovered cuts through the uncertainty because of the pupa; this is the first ever pupa found from Mesozoic fossils, and we confirmed through the use of cutting-edge technology (µ-CT) that it is from the same species as one of the adults. Because pupae are immobile, it is reasonable that she was dropped during transportation by the adult wingless female.”
“Importantly, the transport of larvae and pupae--termed “brood transport”--is a unique feature of ants among all Hymenoptera, and is a critical social behavior,“ Boudinot said. “This fossil is the first evidence of nursing by wingless females, very strongly indicating that advanced social organization had evolved before the origin of the modern ants in the Early Cretaceous.”
“Taken altogether, this fossil opens a totally new pathway for the study of arthropod evolution: Paleoanatomy and paleosociobiology. There is far more to learn from fossils than previously realized!”
The focal amber piece originated from a deposit in theHukawng Valley,Kachin State, northern Myanmar, dated near the Albian–Cenomanian boundary.
Co-authors are Adrian Richter and Rolf Georg Beutel, Friedrich Schiller University Jena; Julian Katzke, Roberto Keller and Evan Economo, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan; Júlio C M Chaul, Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil; and Shûhei Yamamoto of Hokkaido University Museum, Hokkaido University.
Yamamoto discovered the fossil, Richter and Katzke generated and rendered the µ-CT data, and Beutel, Chaul and Economo were integral for shaping the conclusions, Boudinot said. “The study also represents a breakthrough in the application of µ-CT technology for taxonomy, as we were able to make very precise comparisons among the fossilized individuals, allowing me to revise the classification of the genus †Gerontoformica.”
Globally, there are more than 14,000 described species of ants, Boudinot says "As a community, we usually throw around the figure 20,000 as our rough total estimate for three reasons: (1) there is an incredible diversity of ants in tropical ecosystems that have yet to be formally named, (2) modern sequencing technology is allowing us to gain deep insights into the population structure and relationships of living species, thus revealing considerable hidden species-level diversity, and (3) there are over a thousand subspecies names in the ant literature which need to be re-evaluated as these could actually represent proper species. There is a ton of work to do, and Phil Ward and folk are making tremendous progress!"
Regarding extinct species, Boudinot says here are "almost as many fossil ants described as non-avian dinosaurs! As of today, the number stands at about 746 fossil species; of these, only about 50 are described from Mesozoic fossil deposits. This small fraction is critical, however, as they are the key to understanding the patterns of early evolution in the ants!"