We’re working on rearing the praying mantis Tenodera sinensis. Photo by Jonchee Kao.
We strive not to be bound by the “model organism” limitation. We must find ways around poor experimental tractability, so that we can improve taxon sampling and have the means to study key clades. Thus, when necessary we develop new methods and resources, or extend existing ones, to apply chemical, molecular and genetic analyses to new study systems from many major branches of the largest group of animals on earth, the Arthropoda. This includes sequencing, assembling and annotating genomes and transcriptomes, optimizing embryonic injection protocols to deliver various gene interference reagents, and generating staging tables to allow standardized comparisons of development across experimental conditions.
Injecting early embryos of the large milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus. Photos by Amaneet Lochab.
References
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