I-Corps: Higher-potency Insecticidal Dusts by Solid-State Transformation

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发杀虫剂配方，延长目前因广泛抗药性而失效的活性成分的寿命。对外源性杀虫化学品的抗性的发展迫使需要发明具有新作用机制的新活性成分。所提出的技术的目标是提供更有效的配方，可用于重新利用先前被认为不再有效的现有杀虫剂。 重新配制已知的杀虫化合物以提高功效可能是昂贵的新活性成分开发的替代方案。 此外，将已知的杀虫化合物重新配制成更具生物利用度的形式可能更便宜、风险更小、更环保和更快。很少有工程或研发来取代现有产品。这一奋进的成果广泛适用于城市害虫控制、宠物保护、农业和公共卫生。 新产品的市场从致命的蚊虫控制（疟疾在美国几十年来首次得到证实）到消灭臭虫，或者简单的宠物项圈。通常在五金店出售的产品可以通过所提出的过程进行重新设计。这个I-Corps项目的基础是开发使用以前未发现的接触杀虫剂的活化晶体形式的杀虫剂化学制剂。由于病媒种群普遍产生抗药性，作为虫害控制主要手段的接触杀虫剂正在失效，这是一个重大的公共卫生挑战。在城市害虫如臭虫和蟑螂中也发现了抗药性。接触作用的抑制剂通常涉及晶体，但尚未研究利用相同化合物的不同晶体的相对活性。这项技术已被证明可以克服西非抗药性疟疾蚊子的抗药性。在这项研究中，常见的杀虫剂溴氰菊酯被重新配制为含有分散在粉笔上的新的固体形式的活性成分。 新的固体形式是通过一种简单而廉价的方法原位制备的，该方法可以增强溴氰菊酯对各种节肢动物的效力。 这项技术可能会提高用溴氰菊酯消灭昆虫的能力，并克服具有令人烦恼的抵抗力的有机体，从而损害疾病的预防。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of insecticidal formulations that extend the life of current active ingredients that are failing due to widespread resistance. The development of resistance to exogenous insecticidal chemicalsforces the need to invent new active ingredients with new mechanisms of action. The goal of the proposed technology is to provide more effective formulations that may serve to repurpose existing insecticides that were earlier thought to no longer be effective. Reformulating known insecticidal compounds to increase efficacy may be an alternative to the costly development of new active ingredients. Further, reformulating known insecticidal compounds in more bioavailable forms may be cheaper, less risky, greener, and faster. Little engineering or research and development to replace existing products. The outcomes of this endeavor are broadly applicable to the control of urban pests, pet protection, agriculture, and public health. Markets for new products extend from deadly mosquito control (malaria has been confirmed in the United States for the first time in decades) to bed bug eradication, or simple pet collars. Products commonly sold in hardware stores may be reengineered by the proposed process. This I-Corps project is based on the development of insecticidal chemical formulations that employ activated crystalline forms of contact insecticides that have not been previously discovered. Contact insecticides that are the mainstays of pest control are failing due to widespread resistance among vector populations, a major public health challenge. Insecticide resistance also has been found in urban pests such as bedbugs and cockroaches. Insecticides that work on contact often involve crystals, but exploiting the relative activity of different crystals of the same compound has not been investigated. The proposed technology has been shown to overcome resistance among resistant malarial mosquitoes from West Africa. In this study, the common insecticide deltamethrin was reformulated to contain a new solid form of the active ingredient dispersed on chalk. The new solid form is prepared in situ by a simple and inexpensive method that may enhance deltamethrin’s efficacy against a wide variety of arthropods. The proposed technology may enhance the ability to eliminate insects with deltamethrin, and overcome organisms with vexing resistance that compromises disease prophylaxis.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.