My current research program involves using house fly as a model vector for various pathogens (E. coli and V. cholerae). Currently, I have the following research collaborative programs: The role of the adult crop of Musca domestica in vectoring the food pathogen E. coli (with Dr. Lynne McLandsborough, Food Science Dept.); The electrophysiology of the adult crop organ (Univ. of Cagliari, Italy, with Drs. Anna Liscia and Paolo Solari); Role of Phote-HrTH (Phormia terraenovae hypertrehalosemic hormone) and its analogues in modulating the supercontractile muscles of the crop of adult Phormia regina Meigen (with Dr. Gerd Gäde, University of Cape Town, South Africa); SEM/TEM of the adult crop organ of flies (with Drs. Anna Maria Fausto’s lab.); Role of various peptides on the adult crop organ muscles (with Dr. James Chambers, Univ. of Massachusetts, Chemistry Dept.); House fly as a vector of Vibrio cholerae (with Dr. Alix Purdy, Biology Dept., Amherst College. Projected collaborative projects include the following: Flies as vectors of pathogens in Italy (with Drs. Antonio Fasanella and Annuziata Giangaspero). Flies as vectors of pathogens in Egypt (with Dr. Ghada M. Lotfy El-Bassiony, Cairo University, Faculty of Science, Dept. of Entomology), significance and structure of the crop in the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans with Pia Olfason, USDA, Kerrville, TX., and the significance of the adult crop organ in fruit flies (with Dr. Martin Aluja in Xalapa, Mexico).
