Srinivasan Lab members traveled to beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico last week for the Entomological Society of America Southeastern Branch annual meeting. Organized in conjunction with the American Phytopathological Society’s Caribbean Division, this meeting featured lots of symposia and talks related to insect vectors and plant pathogens–our wheelhouse!
Post-doctoral researcher Habibu Mugerwa and PhD student Sudeep Pandey were able to attend the meeting in person, while former post-doc Saioa Legarrea, lab manager Gabrielle LaTora, and PI Babu Srinivasan attended virtually. Our lab presented the following talks and organized the symposia below:
Symposium: Recent Advancements in Taxonomy, Ecology, Virus Transmission, and Management
of Whiteflies and Whitefly-Transmitted Viruses
Organized by Rajagopalbabu Srinivasan (UGA), Alvin Simmons (USDA-ARS), Cindy McKenzie
(USDA-ARS), Muhammad Ahmed (USDA), Jose Rodrigues (UPR)
“Prevalence of whitefly-mediated non-feeding modes of old- and new-world begomoviruses’
transmission and implications for epidemics”
Rajagopalbabu Srinivasan, Saurabh Gautam, Kiran Gadhave, Judith Brown
Symposium: Transmission Biology and Control Strategies for Viruses Transmitted By the
Supervectors, Bemisia tabaci and Frankliniella occidentalis
“Transcriptional responses in two Bemisia tabaci cryptic species following acquisition of old- and
new-world begomoviruses”
Habibu Mugerwa, Saurabh Gautam, Bhabesh Dutta, Judith Brown, Scott Adkins, Rajagopalbabu
Srinivasan
Symposium: Transmission Biology and Control Strategies for Viruses Transmitted By the
Supervectors, Bemisia tabaci and Frankliniella occidentalis
“Effect of selected insecticides on TYLCV transmission and whitefly feeding behavior”
Saioa Legarrea, Stan Diffie, Bhabesh Dutta, Rajagopalbabu Srinivasan
Symposium: Recent Advancements in Taxonomy, Ecology, Virus Transmission, and Management
of Whiteflies and Whitefly-Transmitted Viruses
“Effect of cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) infection on biology and preference of its vector
Aphis gossypii (Hemiptera: Aphididae)”
Sudeep Pandey, Phillip Roberts, Sudeep Bag, Alana Jacobson, Rajagopalbabu Srinivasan
Student Ten-Minute Paper Competition – PhD III (1st Place)
“Sustainable management options for whitefly-transmitted viruses in Georgia squash production”
Gabrielle LaTora, Clarence Codod, Saioa Legarrea, Bhabesh Dutta, Rajagopalbabu Srinivasan, Tim
Coolong, Bhabesh Dutta
Symposium: Plant Virology: New/Emerging/Re-Emerging Viruses and Technologies to Study Them
Sudeep Pandey even won 1st place in his student competition section (PhD III)!
Habibu also had the opportunity to tour the University of Puerto Rico’s Gurabo Estación Experimental Agricola (Agricultural Experiment Station). Here, UPR researchers study different aspects of tobacco, sugarcane, and banana production, as well as other crops and dairy production.
Overall, this meeting was a great opportunity for post-docs, students, and staff to share their research and jam with other entomologists/plant pathologists working with insect vectors and crop pathogens. We look forward to the national ESA meeting in November in Vancouver, BC!
