Miami University

Insect pest control virus: a lecture

Gary W. Blissard, vice president of research at the Boyce Thompson Institute and professor of microbiology-immunology and entomology at Cornell University, will present a lecture on “Viral Envelope Proteins: Viral Larceny and Pathological Revolution” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in 218 Pearson Hall. Blissard's lecture is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series of the microbiology department.

Blissard is an internationally recognized expert on the pathology of insect viruses. Insect viruses can be virulent pathogens for many important insect pests of agricultural crops and forest trees, as well as causes of important human and animal diseases like the mosquito-transmitted West Nile virus and other encephalitis viruses. Blissard and his research team have used biochemical and molecular genetic tools to investigate how a virus interacts with the insect host at the level of virus attachment, entry, replication, exit and transmission to other cells.

Blissard received a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. His postdoctoral research experience was at Oregon State University. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Belize before attending graduate school.

The researcher serves on the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses and the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including the Journal of Virology and the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology.

An Academic Challenge Grant from the state of Ohio to the microbiology department funds this Distinguished Lecture Series. The event is free and open to the public.

Date Published: 03/24/2005
Volume: 24   Number: 29