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20-hydroxyecdysone
| In Ostrinia nubilalis, one taste cell detects
ecdysteroids.
We use TastePROBE
and
dbWave
to record and analyze the activity from such taste receptors.
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Contact chemoreceptors
of herbivorous insects play a crucial role in feeding and oviposition. Insects use
them to detect molecules of nutritional value as well as potentially
harmful molecules, most of which taste bitter to us. This task represents a challenge for taste neurons of all
organisms, in terms of
transduction, neural coding and detoxication.
We currently work on the fruitfly, Drosophila
melanogaster and on the Egyptian cotton moth, Spodoptera littoralis.
I am teaching
crop protection and neurobiology at
AgroParisTech. I try to promote research in proposing to my students laboratory internships all over the world, and using
Internet to improve teaching methods (see for example the sites designed by our students
Coleoptagro & other sites.
With AgroParisTech and with colleagues at Penn State University, I
initiated and co-organize a two weeks summer school introducing French agriculture (economy, politics, research, specific
productions) to USA and foreign students.
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