Laboratory of Chemical Ecology
Welcome
Welcome to the Dweck lab in the Department of Entomology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES).
Our lab is dedicated to developing cutting-edge chemical and molecular strategies aimed at mitigating the detrimental effects caused by harmful insects.
At the core of our research endeavors lie a set of focused objectives:
Exploring Ecologically Relevant Chemical Cues: We strive to unravel chemical signals used by insects for vital functions such as sexual communication, host location, and their ability to evade natural enemies and harmful microbes.
Investigating Neurons and Receptors: Our lab studies the sensory neurons and receptors responsible for detecting these chemical cues to understand how insects perceive and respond to their environmental chemicals.
Analyzing Behavioral Outputs: We investigate the behavioral outputs elicited by these cues and their profound impact on insect survival and reproduction.
This knowledge forms the foundation for the development of targeted strategies to disrupt or manipulate insect behavior for beneficial outcomes.
Techniques
We employ a multidisciplinary approach, including:
chemical analysis (e.g. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS))
electrophysiology (e.g., Single Sensillum Recording (SSR))
behavioral analysis
genetics
molecular biology
gene editing (e.g., CRISPR)
bioinformatics
News
*March 27, 2023. A new paper on spotted lanternflies (cover of the issue) is out in Open Biology.
*March 5, 2024. Qi Xue, Ph.D. , a Postdoctoral Scientist, joined our lab.
*March 1, 2024. A new method paper is out in the JoVE Journal.
*February 22, 2024. Kazi-Sifat Hasan, a Master student from the University of Bridgeport joined our lab.
*December 22, 2023. Lukas Keras, a high school student visited our lab.
*December 14, 2023. The lab received the first independent internal Award, the CAES Board of Control Research Award 2024.
*November 17, 2023. A new paper is out in Science Advances.
*September 25, 2023. Nisha Kark Joined the lab. Welcome Nisha!
*September 11, 2023. Our interview for Current Biology is out.
*August 11, We performed our first single sensillum recording measurements.
*August 3, 023. Ananda Turner gave a fantastic talk about his work at the Plant Health Fellows: Final Research Symposium.
*August 2, 2023. Michael Sekyere and Ananda Turner represented our lab at the 113 Plant Science Day
*June 5, 2023. Ananda Turner Joined the lab. Welcome Ananda!
*June 1, 2023. We received and assembled the air table and Faraday cage.
May 8, 2023. Welcome to the new seasonal research assistant, Michael Sekyere.
*April 24, 2023. The first Senior paper affiliated with CAES has been published in Current Biology.
*April 10, 2023. We conducted the first behavioral experiment and obtained the glass puller.
*March 16, 2023. The lab placed second in the Pi-Day competition.
*February 16, 2023. We have a paper out in Science.
*February 1, 2023. NIH NOA-Change of Recipient Organization (five-year K01 Award).
*January 3, 2023. We opened our lab in the Department of Entomology at CAES.