DEPT OF ENTOMOLOGY SEMINAR | CHRISTINE J. PICARD

Our lab looks to understand the genetic contributions to insect development rate variation across populations and species. Our lab has a circular mandate, wherein we study the insects that eat us (upon our deaths), and the insects we will (and do) consume. For forensic applications, we are interested in what the insects are doing when not on a carcass, the population-level variation that exists, and ultimately, gaining precision in estimating the time interval between death and when an insect first colonizes. We are also interested in the variation that exists within a population, specifically with growth rates, and the genetic contributions thereof. In insect agriculture, the ability not only to synchronize insect development, but also speed it up without the tradeoff of smaller size is highly desirable for the sustainable protein industry. We take a population-level approach to developing correlations between colonized or domesticated strains and comparing those to wild strains in genes of interest associated with development.