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LinkedInPosts Tagged: DEET
Unraveling the Mystery of DEET
You spray DEET on your arms, and those pesky mosquitoes leave you alone. It works. However, not everyone wants to use DEET, a synthetic insect repellent. There's that smell, for one thing. "Properties that people do not like in addition to the smell is that DEET is a solvent for plastic,"...
UC Davis scientists in the Walter Leal lab have discovered the odorant receptor in the Culex mosquito that repels DEET. From left are project scientist Pingxi Xu; postdoctoral scholar Young-Moo Choo; AgChem graduate student Alyssa De La Rosa; and Professor Leal. (Photo credit: Academic Technology Services/Mediaworks)
A Dynamo, a Maverick and an Inspiration
The competition was fierce. We're talking 800 postdoctoral scholars on the UC Davis campus, 12 finalists and two winners. Chemical ecologist Zain Syed, who helped discover the mode of action for the insect repellent DEET in the Walter...
Congratulations!
Blood-fed mosquito
The Secret's Out
We know it works, but how? Just how does DEET work? Does it jam the senses of a mosquito? Does it mask the smell of the host? You spray the chemical repellent on your arm and thankfully, those darn skeeters leave you alone. They need a blood meal to develop their eggs, so off they...
Culex quinquefasciatus, the Southern house mosquito, finishes feeding on non-DEET treated skin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis researcher Zain Syed (right) sprays DEET on the arm of chemical ecologist Walter Leal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
