Cell-free immune reactions and suppression. Insects pests and insect vectors of diseases are managed by toxic substances, but insects have a cunning ability to persist. How pesticide-tolerant insect pests recognise and inactivate chemical and biological toxins is poorly understood. While vertebrates with a closed circulatory system use coagulation reactions mainly for wound-healing, invertebrates employ cell-free aggregation reactions for the sequestration and inactivation of potentially damagin ....Cell-free immune reactions and suppression. Insects pests and insect vectors of diseases are managed by toxic substances, but insects have a cunning ability to persist. How pesticide-tolerant insect pests recognise and inactivate chemical and biological toxins is poorly understood. While vertebrates with a closed circulatory system use coagulation reactions mainly for wound-healing, invertebrates employ cell-free aggregation reactions for the sequestration and inactivation of potentially damaging objects and substances. We use insect plasma to dissect recognition and inactivation of damaging objects and substances with the aim to understand tolerance and its inhibition to design novel strategies in delaying tolerance to pesticides in insect pests.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the principles of bilateral brain wiring. This project seeks to investigate the molecular principles of brain wiring in mammals and how small changes can generate complex outcomes. Neurons in the mammalian brain must be precisely wired together for the brain to function correctly. The project aims to identify the molecular and cellular rules governing commissural wiring in the mammalian cortex to determine how the largest fibre tract in the human brain, the corpus callosum, evolved. ....Unravelling the principles of bilateral brain wiring. This project seeks to investigate the molecular principles of brain wiring in mammals and how small changes can generate complex outcomes. Neurons in the mammalian brain must be precisely wired together for the brain to function correctly. The project aims to identify the molecular and cellular rules governing commissural wiring in the mammalian cortex to determine how the largest fibre tract in the human brain, the corpus callosum, evolved. This may have involved modifications in mechanisms affecting axon guidance that differ between placentals and marsupials. The project investigates the regulatory gene networks determining commissural neuron fate, the regulation of axon guidance components, and the influence of surrounding brain tissue on the development of commissural connections.Read moreRead less