Molen PI, Dr. Umut Toprak has given an invited talk “R.I.P. RNAi In Potato Beetle: Recent insights into gene silencing” at the RNAi symposium “Realizing the Potential of RNA Biopesticides: What It Takes to Make RNAi Commercial and Durable”, held at the Annual Meeting of Entomological Society of America, National Harbor, Maryland, USA, on Nov 8, 2023. The symposium was organized by William Moar (Bayer Crop Science), Ken Narva (GreenLight Biosciences), Ana Velez (University of Nebraska) and Swati Mishra (University of Tennessee). Other talks in the symposium were “Current state of development of RNAi acaricide against herbivorous mites” by Ken Narva (GreenLight Biosciences), “RNA interference in Asian citrus psyllid, from basic research to application” by Nabil Killiny (University of Florida, USA), “Improved RNAi efficacy in insects using pcRNAs” by Steve Whyard (University of Manitoba, Canada), “Decoding resistance to RNAi in the Colorado potato beetle” by Swati Mishra (University of Tennessee, USA), “Improving the delivery of RNA biopesticides” by Juan Arhancet (NanoSUR, LLC, USA), “Advancing RNAi technology for sustainable pest management in agriculture: A focus on cost-effective dsRNA manufacturing and market expansion” by Anil Kumar (RNAissance AG, USA), “Scale up and efficacy of AgriCell-RNAi biopesticides” by Joseph Frank (AgroSpheres, USA), “Mammalian safety of RNA” by Kimberly Hodge-Bell (Bayer Crop Science, USA), “EPA regulatory considerations for topical RNA applications” by Wiebke Striegel (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, USA), “An update on the status of using RNAi to control mosquitoes” by Molly Duman Scheel (Indiana University, USA), “Status update on calantha and varroa products” by Brian Manley (GreenLight BioSciences, USA), and “Stewardship of DvSnf7: Best management practices and challenges for SmartStax PRO and western corn rootworm” by Matthew W. Carroll (Bayer Crop Science, USA). The symposium was very well attended and indicated the recent developments in the field of dsRNA-based insecticides; as well as the tremendous interest in the use of this technique for pest control.
The MOLEN group has been working on the development of dsRNA-based insecticides against Colorado potato beetles and aphids for a long time. The findings are very promising in terms of development of environmentally-friendly and effective pest control strategies.
