Molecular physiology of organic cation and metals excretion in insects

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Insect agricultural pests and insect vectored diseases have become resurgent in recent years and as a result have become growing economic, agricultural, environmental, and health related problems. All too often, the strategies and compounds used to control insect pests or disease vectors are increasingly ineffective or potentially harmful to man and the environment. In order to improve on existing insect control strategies a greater understanding of how insects excrete potentially toxic compounds is needed. My research takes advantage of the recent advances in insect genomic science and advanced physiological techniques to study the mechanisms responsible for excretion of toxic organic molecules such as pesticides, and excretion of potentially toxic metals by the Malpighian (renal) tubule of both aquatic and terrestrial insects. Benefits of this research include: 1) Identifying new targets for the development of novel effective and environmentally benign insect control measures: 2) Helping us understand how insects adapt to different environments and how environmental pollutants may have deleterious effects on beneficial insect populations. 3) Transport proteins identified as a result of this research could become potential biomarkers for toxicant exposure. 4) Development of different species of insects as sentinel organisms for detecting environmental toxicant release. 5) Results of this research can be utilized for the development of sound environmental policy with regard to the release of toxicants into the environment. In addition research program will provide broad scientific training in molecular biology, physiology, and toxicology, which will provide trainees with the skills required for a variety of biology related jobs in academia, industry and government.