Phase II IUCRC at University of Florida: Center for Arthropod Management Technologies

开发新的虫害管理方法对于为不断增长的人口生产足够的食物以及防止节肢动物向植物和人类传播疾病至关重要。与气候条件变化相关的更广泛的害虫分布加剧了对新的害虫管理工具的需求。节肢动物和线虫活动造成的经济损失是农业损失和人类健康成本对社会造成的重大负担。节肢动物管理技术中心(CAMTech)致力于解决限制对影响农业和人类健康的主要昆虫和线虫害虫进行有效管理的问题。该中心解决了对特定知识和研究工具的需求，以加快行业合作伙伴向市场交付虫害管理解决方案，并调查新方法和现有虫害抑制方法的扩展。该领域的主要限制是农业生物技术和城市病虫害管理行业所共有的，并限制了在某些系统中被证明有效的战略的广泛采用。该中心通过最先进的、与工业相关的研究以及对研究生和博士后研究人员(包括代表性不足的群体)的培训，为该领域的持续进步做出了重要贡献。CAMTech是一个在学术界、政府和产业界之间开展跨学科创新研究活动的平台。该中心使用下一代测序和组学、共聚焦显微镜、RNA干扰和基因组编辑等先进方法，进行对工业部门至关重要的非竞争性研究。佛罗里达大学拥有美国最大的昆虫学和线虫学系，其研究专业包括昆虫生理学和毒理学、微生物学、抗性管理、虫害综合管理和农业线虫学。佛罗里达大学的参与者研究了非常多样化的农业和对城市和公共卫生具有重要意义的各种害虫。这种多样性是佛罗里达州大量入侵物种与有利于害虫种群的亚热带气候相结合的结果。农业生物技术和人类健康领域行业的研究需求与大学参与者的专业知识非常一致，有助于加快虫害管理解决方案的开发，以造福农业可持续发展和公众福祉。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The development of new pest management approaches is critical for the production of sufficient food for the increasing human population, and for prevention of arthropod-transmitted disease to plants and humans. The more widespread pest distribution associated with changing climatic conditions exacerbates the need for new pest management tools. The economic losses associated with the activities of arthropods and nematodes are a significant burden to society through both agricultural losses and human health costs. The Center for Arthropod Management Technologies (CAMTech) addresses issues that limit effective management of the major insect and nematode pests that impact agriculture and human health. The center addresses the need for specific knowledge and research tools to expedite delivery of pest management solutions by industry partners to the marketplace, and to investigate both new approaches, and expansion of existing approaches for pest suppression. The major limitations in the field are common to the agricultural biotechnology and urban pest management industries and restrict widespread adoption of strategies shown to be effective in some systems. The center contributes key advances through state of the art, industrially relevant research and by training of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers including underrepresented groups, toward continued advancement of the field. CAMTech serves as a platform for innovative, interdisciplinary research activities at the interface of academia, government, and industry. The center conducts non-competitive research of crucial importance to the industrial sector using advanced methods such as next-generation sequencing and -omics, confocal microscopy, RNA interference and genome editing. Research expertise at the University of Florida site, which has the largest entomology and nematology department in the U.S., includes insect physiology and toxicology, microbiology, resistance management, integrated pest management and agricultural nematology. University of Florida participants work with a very diverse agriculture and a diverse range of pests of urban and public health importance. This diversity results from the large number of invasive species in Florida combined with the sub-tropical climate that favors pest populations. The research needs of industries in the agricultural biotechnology and human health domains align well with the expertise of university participants providing for the expedited development of pest management solutions to the benefit of agricultural sustainability and to public wellbeing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.