Brent Murray (UNBC) and Jeanne Robert (BC Ministry of Forests) are looking for a graduate student to begin work on a project involving the use of RNAi for bark beetle monitoring starting in 2024.
Project description: In an era of increased frequency and severity of bark beetle infestations, new tools are needed to mitigate outbreak populations. Lethal trap trees (felled trap trees inoculated with insecticide) are no longer used as a population control tool for bark beetles because of concerns over the non-target effects of the insecticides. New, non-toxic, targeted, inexpensive, and effective genetic technologies are currently being developed (RNA interference [RNAi]) that could be used in place of generalized insecticides in trap trees. This study would test the effectiveness of RNAi for use in lethal traps trees for bark beetles. The is an applied and collaborative research project with UNBC, Renaissance Bioscience, and the BC Ministry of Forests to develop RNAi for use in lethal trap trees as well as to test the effectiveness and specificity of these RNAi constructs on mountain pine beetle, spruce beetle, Douglas-fir beetle and western balsam bark beetle. This project, if successful, will contribute a powerful tool for bark beetle management.
If interested, please submit your CV to Brent.Murray@unbc.ca OR Jeanne.Robert@gov.bc.ca