The "biorational" approach to insect control involves the development of specific chemicals that interfere with biochemical and physiological processes unique to insects. The goal of our research is to gain an understanding of basic biochemical processes that are unique to insects such that these processes can be exploited for insect control. Toward this end, projects in my laboratory use molecular and biochemical approaches to gain an understanding of the production and endocrine regulation of sex pheromones in the common housefly, the cotton boll weevil and bark beetles.
