Dr. James P. Cuda hosted several international visitors in his laboratory during the month of May. Dr. Sean Thackeray, Head of Product Development of Ecoguard, Johannesburg, South Africa, is interested in weed IPM practices, and visited Cuda’s lab on May 15th. Dr. Emilio Gonzalvez, Dr. Julia Parrado, and Dr. Berta Garcia, scientists with the Cuban Plant Health Institute visited Cuda’s lab on May 16th.

Dr. Barry Alto in the news: The news release highlights a multiplexed kit for the detection of emergent mosquito-borne pathogens Zika, dengue, and chikungunya viruses. The procedure uses loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) together with innovations in synthetic biology to allow for the detection of these viruses in less than one hour in human and mosquito samples. The first author is Dr. Ozlem Yaren and the senior author is Dr. Steven Benner from Firebird Biomolecular Sciences LLC and the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution. Our Dr. Barry Alto was a collaborator on the study. 

Michael Vickers, a Ph.D. student in Dr. Lisa Taylor's lab, was awarded an Animal Behavior Society (ABS) Travel Grant to attend their annual meeting in Toronto, Canada this month.  He will be presenting results of an exploratory study that is part of his dissertation research, the talk is entitled:  “Alternative Strategies for Dealing with Prey Toxins by Jumping Spiders.”  In addition to receiving the ABS award, Michael was also awarded the CALS/IFAS James Davidson Travel Grant to attend the Behaviour 2017 conference in Estoril, Portugal next month.  As with the ABS conference, he will be presenting his work on toxin susceptibility and how jumping spiders use different tactics to deal with toxic prey.  His talk is entitled, “Alternative strategies for dealing with prey toxins and implications for the evolution of color in jumping spiders.”

The University of Hawaii Kona Cooperative Extension Service is happy to announce that Mr. Luis Arstizabal has joined the University as a Junior Extension Agent for Coffee Berry Borer. His position entails providing outreach and education to Hawaii's coffee industry and to assist coffee growers with Coffee Berry Borer management. 

From the Outreach Coordinator

A big thank you to the students and faculty who volunteered for May’s outreach events!

• May 4th – Duval Early Learning Academy – Michael Gonzalez and Laurel Lietzenmayer
• May 6th – Learning Gate Community School Bioblitz – Lettie Cronin and Laurel Lietzenmayer
• May 11th – Joseph Williams Elementary – Johnalyn Gordon and Dale Halbritter
• May 12th – Star Christian Academy – Michael Gonzalez and Gabby Steele
• May 18th – Idylwild Elementary School Steam Night – Rachel Atchison and Sara Alvarez
• May 20th – Bug Week Bug Zoo – James Brown, Michael Gonzalez, Jose Martinez, Becca Perry, and Johanna Schwartz

Upcoming Events

• June 16th - Ocala Discovery Science Center
• June 26th –Kimball Wiles Elementary – 1:30pm-3:30pm
• June 27th – Baby Gator Child Development and Research Center – 1pm-3pm
• June 28th – Baby Gator Child Development and Research Center – 1pm-3pm
• June 30th – Flagler County Public Library – 9am-12pm
• July 7th – Littlewood Elementary – 1pm-2:30pm
• July 22nd – Zookeeper Day and Santa Fe Zoo – 9am-3pm

ABOVE: Michael Gonzalez (Mr. Roach) presenting to students at Duval Early Learning Academy.

The live critters are always a hit with children and adults alike. The critters are available for you to check out should you be leading an outreach event. We have doubles of our most popular critters, as well as various native insect species depending on the time of year. We have large wood and Plexiglas cages for viewing our native orb weaving spiders. There is one travel cage and one larger static cage. Please be sure to contact us and review the protocol on transporting and handling the critters if you are not already familiar with it. If you lead an outreach, be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter and we can log all outreach events.