Center for Plant Health Science and Technology
CPHST Lab, Phoenix, Arizona |
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Location: Phoenix, AZ |
The Phoenix Lab is co-located in an industrial park with the APHIS-PPQ Pink Bollworm Sterile Insect Production Facility and APHIS-PPQ State Plant Health Director’s Office in Phoenix, AZ. The laboratory was originally established as a unit within the USDA-ARS in 1970 and became a part of APHIS when the Service was organized in 1971. The laboratory was first established to develop control technology for pink bollworm. The lab’s role expanded in the mid-70’s to support rangeland pest management of range caterpillar, grasshopper, Mormon cricket and black grass bug. Recently, Phoenix Lab has served a variety of APHIS-PPQ programs including methods development and program support for boll weevil eradication; fruit fly mass-rearing; fruit fly bait sprays; Karnal bunt survey, detection and control; biological control of silverleaf whitefly, glassy-winged sharpshooter, giant salvinia and saltcedar; and information management systems for pest interception data.
The Phoenix Lab’s current mission is to develop, adapt, and implement control technology for pink bollworm and rangeland pests. The lab develops and optimizes technologies and tools to maintain state-of-the-art and appropriate solutions for these programs. Current work includes developing control technology for the APHIS-PPQ Pink Bollworm Eradication Program and grasshopper and Mormon cricket control programs using biotechnology, sterile insects and pheromone delivery systems, rangeland pest management, and GIS applications.
The Phoenix Lab staff consists of four permanent scientists, one IT specialist (who also works half-time as an ISO quality manager), six permanent and one temporary technician, one laboratory support assistant, one maintenance worker and one part-time student working as a program support assistant.
The laboratory is housed in two buildings of the APHIS complex consisting of a pink bollworm quarantine mass-rearing laboratory, a PBW rearing facility, small greenhouses, and an outdoor fenced compound where cotton is grown for experiments on genetically modified PBW in quarantine field cages.
The Phoenix Lab has specialized equipment for entomological studies consisting of controlled environment chambers, three portable controlled environment rearing modules, microscopes, balances, meters, PCR machines, fume hoods, ultra cold freezers, an Aerial Application Spray Simulation Spray Room, a quarantine laboratory for rearing genetically modified PBW or other Lepidoptera, and equipment for testing pesticide and pheromone application technology. The laboratory is able to develop methods and technology for area-wide control programs, insect mass-rearing, diet development and survey and detection methods.
Recent Accomplishments
Pink Bollworm (PBW):
- Identified a sprayable PBW mating disruption formulation to be delivered to the PBW eradication program. The formulation will significantly improve mating disruption in the field, save application costs, and is extendable to other invasive pest species such as light brown apple moth and cactus moth.
- Developed a new egg disinfectant providing an environmentally friendly substitute for formalin in the Pink Bollworm Rearing Facility. The new treatment will be used in the 2008 production season for the PBW eradication program.
- Conducted the first open field test of a PBW sterile marker strain genetically modified to express a fluorescent protein for potential use in the eradication program. Use of a genetic marker strain of PBW would allow error-free identification of released moths on monitoring traps, which will improve program effectiveness.
- Designed and built a specialized stand-alone quarantine mass-rearing and moth collection facility that was able to produce over 500,000 genetically modified sterile PBW per week for field testing. This rearing unit can serve as a prototype for mass production for other lepidopteran pests.
- Developed a prototype nozzle that produces a large dollop for aerial spray of pheromones that promise major improvements in PBW and gypsy moth control programs.
Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket:
- Developed an economical system to evaluate potential fungal pathogens for rangeland grasshoppers. The system consists of Field Aerial Application Spray Simulation Tower Technology and field cages designed to allow normal thermo-regulation of grasshoppers.