Voltage-gated sodium channels are critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. They are a major target of many naturally-occurring neurotoxins from plants and animals as well as several classes of insecticides including pyrethroids. Pyrethroid insecticides have been used widely for control arthropod pests and disease vectors due to their low mammalian toxicity. Besides their insecticidal activities, volatile pyrethroids are also potent repellents against mosquitoes. In her seminar, Dr. Dong will talk about the mechanism of insecticidal action and resistance of pyrethroid insecticides. She will also present recent work that shed light on the mechanisms of pyrethroid repellency in Aedes aegypti, a major human disease vector.
About the Speaker: Ke Dong received her Ph.D degree in Entomology from Cornell University in 1994. She has been leading an insecticide toxicology research program in the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University since 1996. In 2020, Dr. Dong joined the Department of Biology at Duke University. The Dong lab uses a combination of toxicological, electrophysiological, pharmacological and molecular approaches to understand the molecular actions of sodium channel-targeting insecticides and neurotoxins in a variety of arthropod species including Drosophila and mosquitoes. In recent years, her group has initiated a new research project to understand the molecular bases of repellency of insecticides and plant essential oils in Aedes aegypti, a major human disease vector.
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