John Podgwaite

Title: Microbiologist
Unit: Genetics, Biological Control, and Management of Invasive Species
Previous Unit: Pathology and Microbial Control of Insects that Impact the Health of Eastern Forests
Address: Northern Research Station
51 Mill Pond Road
Hamden, CT 06514
Phone: 203-230-4325
E-mail: Contact John Podgwaite

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Current Research

• Research to improve and refine in vivo production of Gypchek continues. Gypchek is the only gypsy moth-specific pesticide available for use in wide-area State and Federal cooperative suppression and eradication programs.
• Research on in vitro-produced strains of gypsy moth virus that are being developed to replace the current in vivo product has intensified. In 2005, a ground-based field experiment was conducted in Delaware in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Service, RWU-4509, and university scientists. The objective was to compare the efficacy of a range of doses of high-potency viral strains produced in vivo and in vitro with the same doses of in vivo-produced Gypchek. Efficacy data obtained from this experiment have been collected and will be used to establish doses for an aerial test of in vitro-produced virus in FY-2006. An epizootiological study on how the spatial distribution of virus on foliage relates to in season transmission of disease was completed.
• Research is underway with Russian colleagues in Novosibirsk to determine appropriate field doses of Gypchek for use against Asian strains of gypsy moth if they should become established in the USA.

Future Research

• To continue the necessary research toward bringing a cost-effective in vitro Gypchek to the marketplace.
• To develop alternatives to aerial application for introducing Gypchek into infested habitats.
• To investigate the potential for developing microorganisms associated with high-risk invasive forest insects as microbial control agents.

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications