It is well established that insects and plants have shared a long evolutionary history with one another. Due to this evolutionary “arms race,” plants have developed some truly fascinating ways to deter insects from feeding upon them, such as production of various terpenoid compounds that repel or kill insect pests. Our lab is interested in isolating plant-derived compounds that may act as natural repellents.
We perform various bioassay tests for various companies and agencies to quantify the ability of new insecticidal formulations to kill and repel a wide array of arthropod pest species. Some of the species we utilize in our testing includes, but is not limited too: house flies, cockroaches, ticks, bed bugs, mosquitoes, fleas, crickets, corn rootworms, corn borers, cutworms, aphids, and spider mites. The fees for service, as well as the types of testing to be performed, are negotiated via a contract basis.