Hunter laboratory at the University of Arizona
Encarsia females with whitefly nymphs. Photo credit Alex Wild
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Leptoglossus zonatus. Photo credit Al Reina
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Welcome
In the Hunter laboratory, we study the ecology and evolution of interactions between microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are currently studying the mechanisms of reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoids by the symbiont Cardinium, and the transmission and fitness consequences of the environmentally-acquired Burkholderia on the leaf-footed bug Leptoglossus zonatus. We have recently concluded more than a decade of study on the population ecology of the symbiont Rickettsia in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci.
In the Hunter laboratory, we study the ecology and evolution of interactions between microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are currently studying the mechanisms of reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoids by the symbiont Cardinium, and the transmission and fitness consequences of the environmentally-acquired Burkholderia on the leaf-footed bug Leptoglossus zonatus. We have recently concluded more than a decade of study on the population ecology of the symbiont Rickettsia in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci.
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Molly Hunter is also the Chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology & Insect Science. If you are interested in graduate study in the Hunter laboratory, contact Molly Hunter (see contact page), and check out what the EIS graduate program has to offer. Click on the beetle icon on the left to take you to the GIDP-EIS home page where you can find out more about the program.
Interested in a PhD in the Hunter laboratory? We are recruiting a PhD student to start in Fall 2020 to work on Leptoglossus-Burkholderia interactions. Email Molly to express your interest and background: mhunterATag.arizona.edu 
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Lab News
Summer 2019. More lab dynamics. Since I last wrote, both Alisons have finished their NIH-funded Center for Insect Science PERT postdocs. Alison Bockoven finished in August 2018, and has launched a teaching career, starting at Pima Community College and going on to a full time position at Arizona Western College in the fall. Alison Ravenscraft finished in April 2019, and is starting a tenure track faculty position at the University of Texas in Arlington. Congratulations A-bok and A-ray! (as we fondly differentiated them). Alison R. and I will continue to collaborate because we got a USDA NIFA grant to study Leptoglossus-Burkholderia interactions (with Dave Baltrus)! We also said goodbye to Ashley Little, great undergrad epidemiology major, who was always fantastic and cheerful, despite balancing classes, CDC summer internships in Epidemiology, several paying jobs, volunteering for Planned Parenthood (and I suspect that's not all) and Connor Ranger-Moore, the last of the undergrads working with Alison (aka the Burklebuddies), heading towards a nursing degree. We had two new undergrads join the lab this year - Esther Gomez, in fall of 2018, and Spencer Miller, summer of 2019. Francisco Montijo and Josh Garcia are continuing. PHOTO: Gentle Ben's, Ashley's farewell, May 2019. L to R: Molly, Suzanne, Ashley, Esther and Spencer |
