Wendell Roelofs
Cornell University
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Primary Section: 61, Animal, Nutritional, and Applied Microbial Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1985)
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Research Interests
My research program is involved with the insect chemical communication system, particularly in defining sex pheromone blends, how they are biosynthesized, genetically controlled by female moths, hormonally controlled, and how they are perceived by male moths. Additionally, the studies are directed to practical use in insect monitoring and control programs. Research is continuing on pheromone identifications of a complex of scarab beetles, the German cockroach, and some additional pest moth species, as well as studies on inserting insect genes into baculoviruses, on the functionality of novel peptides in insects, on characterizing insect peptide receptors, on defining the role of biogenic amines in male behavioral thresholds, on characterizing genes for unique pheromone-gland desaturases in moths, and on characterizing a factor in crab apples that imparts resistance to the apple maggot larvae.
