Gary W. Felton, Ph.D.
- Professor and Department Head of Entomology
University Park, PA 16802
- Email gwf10@psu.edu
Education
- B.S., University of California, Irvine, 1975
- M.S., University of Kentucky, 1983
- Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1988
Current Graduate Students:
Adam Damon
Po-An Lin
Gabriela Ponce
Liu Zhang
Postdoctoral Scholars:
Anne Jones
Charles Mason
Research Support Assistant (Lab Manager):
Michelle Peiffer
Graduates:
Donglan Tian, PhD August 2012, currently a Research Scientist at Bayer Crop Science, Davis, CA
Jinwon Kim, PhD December 2012, currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Department Focus Areas:
Chemical ecology
Research:
Chemical ecology; Insect-plant interactions; induced plant defenses, plant perception of herbivores
Research Programs and Interests:
My research program uses molecular, proteomic and physiological approaches to investigate insect-plant interactions. My main interests are investigating the counter measures herbivores use in overcoming host plant defenses. Particular interest is on the role of herbivore salivary signals in suppressing the induced defenses of host plants.
The role of saliva of blood feeding arthropods in suppressing the defenses of their vertebrate hosts has been comparatively well studied; however, very little is known about how the saliva of herbivores may interfere with plant defensive responses. Our projects focus primarily on the saliva of caterpillars. Recent findings indicate that saliva is enriched with an array of molecules that function in defense against microbial infection, digestion of plant tissues, and in suppressing induced defenses of plants. We employ a variety of surgical and genetic approaches (e.g., RNA interference) to examine function(s) of saliva.
