Science researchers at Michigan State University recently published a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that says they have discovered a second molecular door that can be used in creating mosquito repellant. Scientists long believed that there was only one molecular gateway in targeting disease-carrying mosquitoes, but this door is coming to a close. Pyrethroid insecticides have been used for years and work so well as an insecticide that the World Health Organiation uses them with the mosquito nets they distribute around the world.
“One of the keys to the success of this research was our cloning of a mosquito sodium channel for the first time,” said Michigan State University insect toxicologist and the paper’s senior author Ke Dong, “Another lead author of this study, Yoshiko Nomura, dedicated nearly one year to make this happen, which allowed Dr. Du to perform electrophysiological experiments with the clone.”
According to a Michigan State University news article, pyrethroids work by opening the sodium channel in mosquitoes. They don’t die from the toxin, but from sodium overdose. This door remains open as mosquitoes take in sodium, which affects the nervous system, paralyzes the mosquitoes, and kills them. Because this molecular door is coming to a close, researchers wanted to find a way to make sure pyrethroids stayed just as effective. The research team was able to find a new pyrethroid binding site, which will help pyrethroids adapt and save lives in the fight against disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Female mosquito of the Culicidae family
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Michigan State University conducts a number of groundbreaking studies like this one every year. Lab suppliers interested in marketing university lab equipment and increasing scientific product sales leads at Michigan life science marketing events may also be interested to know that Michigan State University is a highly funded market, according to the latest NIH and NSF research funding statistics. In 2012, the NIH gave Michigan State University $49.4 million in research funding. This funding went towards various research projects in life science departments such as biochemistry, biostatistics, chemistry, internal medicine, microbiology, pharmacology and veterinary sciences. With 13 awards and $4.7 million in funding, pharmacology was the best-funded life science department. For a full list of departments receiving NIH funding at Michigan State University organized by department name, number of awards received and total funding awarded, please visit the NIH website.
In addition to receiving funding from the NIH, Michigan State University was also awarded $62.1 million from the NSF in 2012. The projects receiving funding ranged among a number of life science disciplines. Some of these programs of study included biological infrastructure, macrosystem biology, systematics and biodiversity science, cellular dynamics and function, evolutionary science clusters, genome research, systems and synthetic biology, neural systems clusters, plant environmental biology, global systems science, genetic mechanisms, and molecular biophysics. For a full list of projects receiving NSF funding at Michigan State University, please visit the NSF website.
Given Michigan State University’s research funding statistics and innovative research, it’s evident that lab suppliers interested in marketing university lab equipment and increasing scientific product sales leads may want to consider attending Michigan life science marketing events. Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. invites all biotechnology vendors and lab suppliers to network with others in their field at our next East Lansing BioResearch Product Faire™ Front Line Event on July 17, 2013. Last year, our East Lansing BioResearch Product Faire™ Front Line Event attracted 295 attendees, of which 39 were purchasing agents, professors and post docs, and 41 were lab managers. The attendees came from 32 different research buildings and 33 departments across campus.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full-service science research marketing and events-planning company that organizes life science marketing events at top research universities across the country. For more information on our East Lansing BioResearch Product Faire™ Front Line Event, or to view more funding statistics for Michigan State University, click on the button below. If you’d like to market your university lab equipment and increase scientific product sales leads at life science marketing events closer to home, we encourage you to view our 2013 calendar of events.