{"id":2430,"date":"2010-02-22T09:14:05","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T16:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2430"},"modified":"2013-07-31T11:23:51","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T15:23:51","slug":"making-insecticides-safer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2430","title":{"rendered":"Making Insecticides Safer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"artStudies show that many broad-based, synthetic insecticides on the market have long-term, adverse effects on the environment and human health. The ideal synthetic agent is one that targets a specific type of insect while causing no harm to the other organisms that come in contact with it.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Sen<\/strong>, associate professor of chemistry, is working toward such a solution for controlling moths\u2014pests that cause major agricultural damage and deforestation. Yet with over 150,000 different species of this insect, it might seem an impossible task to develop an insecticide that kills only moths and<\/em> has no cross-reactivity with other organisms.<\/p>\n

Sen said the secret could lie in creating a synthetic molecule that controls a moth\u2019s ability to produce Juvenile Hormone. This hormone, ubiquitous to all insects, controls a moth\u2019s growth, development, and reproduction. But whereas the hormone is a single chemical in most insects, it is a family of five distinct chemicals in moths, Sen explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at those structures, you have a sort of \u2018a-ha!\u2019 moment and realize that moths\u201d must be producing the hormone in a unique way, Sen said.<\/p>\n

Her research has shown that moths use a series of proteins to produce Juvenile Hormone. Currently, she and her team of student researchers \u201care looking at the biochemical transformations that [occur], looking at very specific proteins that are involved in those transformations, and doing structural analyses to determine and map out exactly what the differences are between those proteins and homologous proteins that are present in other organisms,\u201d Sen explained.<\/p>\n

The goal is to design a molecule that \u201cknocks out the ability of the insect to make those proteins,\u201d Sen explained. \u201cIf we can do that, there will be a domino effect\u2014the insect won\u2019t make the hormone, because we\u2019ve stopped the whole biochemical process\u2026and [the moth] will die as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a medical-chemical solution to the problem\u201d of pest control, Sen said.<\/p>\n

Any synthetic agent that resulted from this research \u201cwould not be a fast-kill compared to\u2026an insecticide that affected the moth\u2019s neurotransmissions.\u201d (Those fast-acting insecticides are the ones that are harmful because they affect all organisms\u2019 neurotransmissions\u2014including humans, Sen explained.) \u201cBut this would be a fast enough kill in the field that it could stop insects from damaging crops,\u201d Sen said.<\/p>\n

An insecticide using such a synthetic agent would be an ideal complement to an integrated pest management system, Sen continued. For example, farmers could use the targeted insecticide in conjunction with parasitic wasps\u2014biological agents that are excellent at killing moths. \u201cA multifaceted approach is always best\u201d and reduces the chance of creating resistant insects in the process, Sen explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be a synthetic agent,\u201d Sen continued. \u201cBut the fact that we\u2019re doing this with such a high level of precision, it\u2019s a \u2018green\u2019 approach to solving the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associate professor of chemistry Stephanie Sen’s research could lead to an environmentally safer method of controlling moths\u2014pests that cause major agricultural damage and deforestation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,32,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","category-march-2010","category-on-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}