Insecticide targets in the nervous system: Discovery and design for sustainable insect pest control

虫害给粮食生产、人类健康和我们的伴侣动物的福祉带来了巨大的成本。 化学杀虫剂仍然是控制这些害虫的主要武器，但使用杀虫剂也有一些缺点。 人们对杀虫剂杀死昆虫的方式知之甚少，杀虫剂的使用对环境产生了负面影响-化学残留物的持久性和益虫与害虫一起沿着被杀死。 此外，昆虫对杀虫剂产生抗药性，因此失去了对害虫的控制。 这项拟议的研究旨在确定昆虫害虫中的“阿基里斯治愈”，并以新一代杀虫剂为目标，以获得安全，有效和可持续的控制。

Insect pests impose massive costs in food production, in human health and in the wellbeing of our companion animals. Chemical insecticides remain a major weapon in the control of these pests, but the use of insecticides has some downsides. The way in which insecticides kill insects is poorly understood and insecticide usage has negative impacts in the environment – the persistence of chemical residues and the killing of beneficial insects along with the pests. Further, insects become resistant to insecticides, so pest control is lost. This proposed research seeks to identify the ‘achilles heal’ in insect pests and to target them with new generation insecticides to gain safe, effective and sustainable control.