February 2, 2016
Zika virus and mosquito-borne disease experts
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The World Health Organization declares the Zika virus is an international public health emergency. The following Purdue University experts can discuss the virus, how it spreads and interacts with humans and mosquitos, mosquito control, and ways to protect from mosquito bites.
Richard Kuhn, professor and head of biological sciences, currently studies the Zika virus and has studied flaviviruses, a group that includes Zika, dengue and West Nile, for more than 10 years. The National Institutes of Health funds his research into the Zika virus, and his focus is on the viral replication and interactions with human and mosquito hosts. Kuhn, along with Michael Rossmann, Purdue's Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, identify targets for vaccines, antiviral drugs and treatments for viruses within the flavivirus group, and were among the team that was the first to map the structure of the dengue virus in 2002. Kuhn also is the inaugural director of the Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases (PI4D).
CONTACT: Richard Kuhn, 765-494-4407, kuhnr@purdue.edu
Research website: http://bilbo.bio.purdue.edu/~viruswww/Kuhn_home/research.php
Related releases:
Discovery points to new approach to fight dengue virus
Catherine Hill, professor of medical entomology, vector biology and a public health Extension specialist, studies the biology of insects that cause human diseases. Hill can also discuss transmission, epidemiology, symptoms and prevention of mosquito-borne diseases. Much of her research focuses on mosquito-borne flaviviruses, including dengue and chikungunya, which are similar to Zika and vectored by the same mosquitoes. She can discuss the biology of Zika-transmitting mosquitoes, how to control them, how to reduce the risk of contracting Zika and how dengue can help researchers make limited predictions about the spread and transmission of Zika. She is the coordinator of the Purdue Entomology Public Health Extension Program, which aims to reduce transmission of vector-borne diseases through education.
Hill also collaborated with Val Watts, associate head and professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, to identify a new class of insecticides that could provide a safer, more selective means of controlling mosquitoes that transmit infectious diseases. Hill and Watts used the mosquito genome to pinpoint chemicals that disrupt the mechanics of dopamine, leading to the insect's death. The chemicals are more selective than current insecticides, which bind readily to molecules in humans and non-target insects.
CONTACT: Catherine Hill, 765-496-6157, hillca@purdue.edu
Related releases:
Mosquito- and tick-borne diseases: transmission, symptoms, prevention
New class of insecticides offers safer, more targeted mosquito control
Timothy Gibb, integrated pest management specialist and insect diagnostician, is a Purdue Extension entomologist. His background is in Extension and outreach communications for mosquito integrated pest management. He has expertise in insect diagnostics, personal protection from insects, and cultural and chemical mosquito control (larvicides and adulticides) and their application.
CONTACT: Timothy Gibb, 765-494-4570, gibb@purdue.edu
Zika virus and mosquito experts
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q1/zika-virus-and-mosquito-experts.html
Writers:
Elizabeth K. Gardner, 765-494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu
Natalie van Hoose, 765-496-2050, nvanhoos@purdue.edu
Keith Robinson, 765-494-2722, robins89@purdue.edu