John A. Pickett

Cardiff University


Primary Section: 61, Animal, Nutritional, and Applied Microbial Sciences
Membership Type:
International Member (elected 2014)

Biosketch

John Pickett was appointed Head of the Insecticides and Fungicides Department (later the Department of Biological Chemistry) in 1984 and, concurrently in 2007, Scientific Director of the Rothamsted Centre for Sustainable Pest and Disease Management. In 2010, he relinquished these positions on being awarded the first Michael Elliott Distinguished Research Fellowship at Rothamsted. As well as fulfilling this prestigious new role, he continues to contribute to the chemical ecology and is still very much involved with research activities in the UK and around the world. He has over 480 publications and patents. John’s scientific work has been acknowledged with the 1995 Rank Prize for Nutrition and Crop Husbandry, election to Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1996, appointment to CBE for services to Biological Chemistry in 2004, and the Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture in 2008, among many other international measures of esteem. He also presented, in 2008, the Royal Society’s premier lecture in the biological sciences, The Croonian Prize Lecture, and the Cornell University Lecture in 2009. He was awarded the International Congress of Entomology Certificate of Distinction, presented at the XXIV International Congress of Entomology. In June 2014 he became President of the Royal Entomological Society and in April 2014 he was elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (US).

Research Interests

John Pickett studies the chemical ecology of interactions between insects, some other animals, and between insects, plants and animal hosts. This specifically involves the chemical characterisation of molecular structures of natural products that influence the development or behaviour (semiochemicals) of insects and the other organisms. He was the first to identify aphid, mosquito and sandfly pheromones. Research extends to the biochemistry and molecular biology of secondary plant metabolites that act as semiochemicals and the mechanisms by which they are employed and perceived by insects. The long term objectives are to develop pheromones and other semiochemicals for new methods of pest control. This is exemplified particularly by his work in Africa using companion crops to deliver plant secondary metabolites for pest and weed management and new approaches for using genetic modification of crop plants to release protective semiochemicals. His studies also involve devising novel ways of controlling vectors of pathogens attacking the human population and farm animals.

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