Researchers at the University of Maryland are using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model system to unravel what genes and gene pathways are involved in the metabolic changes that lead to insulin resistance and full-blown diabetes in humans. In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (November 2, 2009), Leslie Pick, associate professor, Department of Entomology, and colleagues describe how they altered genes in fruit flies to model the loss of insulin production, as seen in human Type 1 diabetes. "We can use these genetically manipulated flies as a model to understand defects underlying human diabetes and to identify genes and target points for pharmacological intervention," suggests Dr. Pick, who is also using flies to study Type 2 diabetes and other syndromes of insulin resistance.

Dr. Bretton K. Kent, director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Entomology, is featured along with Dr. Stephen J. Godfrey, Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum, in a National Geographic Prehistoric Predators episode called "Monster Shark." Dr. Godfrey discovers a 10-12 million year old giant shark tooth after ten years of searching, and he and Dr. Kent discuss what the tooth can reveal about the unique evolutionary adaptations of sharks.

Researchers at the University of Maryland led by Dr. Barbara L. Thorne, Professor, Department of Entomology, have unraveled a mystery about the evolution of termites, one of the social insect groups that Charles Darwin himself recognized as a special problem to reconcile with fundamental concepts of evolution. In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (October 5, 2009), Dr. Thorne and colleagues reveal how unrelated termites originating from two different families or colonies join forces after killing their kings and queens, and then cooperate in a larger, stronger group in which new “reproductives” can emerge from the ranks of either or both original colonies, thus enabling both lineages to thrive.

Dr. Amy Brown has been named a Fellow of the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators

 

Dr. St. Leger gives lecture on Superpathogen: Using Genetic Engineering to Build the Ultimate Mosquito Swatter.