News

November 30, 2005
UC Mosquito Research Program Issues Call for Grant Proposals

DAVIS, CALIF.--Medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, director of the University of California Mosquito Research Program (UCMRP), has issued a call for grant proposals on mosquito control in California, particularly the Culex mosquito, the major vector of West Nile disease.

The proposals are due Friday, Feb. 24, 2006.

This year 18 Californians died of West Nile virus, and the disease infected more than 900 others throughout the state.

Lanzaro said UCMRP's primary goal is "to conduct research to improve methods of managing pest and disease-transmitting mosquitoes, thus protecting the citizens of California from mosquito-borne disease and discomfort from mosquito bites."

Grant emphasis is on principles of integrated pest management, including practical biological control strategies and other approaches which are not disruptive to the environment, he said.

The four categories are chemical control methods, including application technology; mosquito biology and ecology; integrated pest management, including biological control; and public health. A total of approximately $300,000 is available.

Eligible to apply are University of California faculty members with principal investigator status.

A technical committee will evaluate the proposals for scientific merit and relevance to problems associated with the control of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases of public health significance.

Principal investigators will each present a 15-minute program describing their proposal at the annual UCMRP Grant Proposal Presentation Day, to be held this spring on the UC Davis campus.

Last year seven projects received funding.

• UC Riverside entomologist William Walton received funding for two projects: a one-year grant on "Efficacy of Larvivorous Fishes Used in IPM Programs Against West Nile Vectors Inhabiting Constructed Treatment Wetlands"; and the second-year of a three-year grant on "Inheritance of Resistance and Cross-Resistance in Culex quinquefasciatus Selected with Single or Multiple Toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis"
• UC Davis arbovirologist Aaron Brault, funding for the first-year of a two-year grant, "Increased Diagnostic Capacity for the Detection of California Mosquito-Borne Viruses"
• UC Davis entomologist Thomas Scott, funding for the second-year of a three-year grant on "Rapid Assessment of Transmission Potential of West Nile Virus by Culex Mosquitoes"
• UC Riverside entomologist Rene Cardé, funding for the third year of a three-year grant, "Identification of Bird Odors Attractive to Culex Mosquitoes"
• UC Davis entomologist Anthony Cornel, based at the Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier, funding for a one-year grant, "Role of Culex pipiens sensu latu in Transmission of West Nile Virus in a Region of Hybridization"
• UC Davis entomologist William Reisen, funding for third-year of a three-year grant, "Factors Increasing the Transmission Efficiency of West Nile Virus in California."

Further information on the grant process is available on the UCMRP Web site at www.ucmrp.ucdavis.edu, or by contacting administrative assistant Nancy Dullum, (530) 752-6983 or nadullum@ucdavis.edu.

UCMRP, headquartered at 396 Briggs Hall, UC Davis, is a statewide program established in 1972 by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR). The statewide programs focus on research and extension in solving priority problems in the management of California agriculture, natural resources, and human development.

• Forms and further information

Contact:
Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications
UC Mosquito Research Program
Department of Entomology
396 Briggs Hall
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: (530) 754-6894
E-mail: kegarvey@ucdavis.edu