Sustainable Protection of Durables
The team's core activity is the provision of research and development support to government and commerce in the area of sustainable protection of the agri-environment. Our work focuses on identifying the risks posed by contaminants (pests, pathogens and chemicals) and the development of integrated risk-management strategies that are least injurious to human health and the environment and most specific to pests and pathogens.
Our work is divided into three sections:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Acarology
- Environmental Entomology & Biodeterioration
Activities
The team acts as lead contractor to more than 30 research projects and provides support to individuals and organisations within government and the private sector both nationally and internationally.
Our specialists play a leading role in the development of new techniques and applications in molecular modelling for the assessment of chemical toxicity. This area of research enables the risk to human health and the environment from chemical compounds to be assessed without the need to use animals. Our work is used to inform policymaking and regulatory processes.
The team�s work has expanded to include manufactured nanomaterials, for which, currently, there is little or no safety data (human health or environmental). We are supporting studies into nanomaterial toxicology, ecotoxicology and exposure assessment to enable the completion of urgently needed risk assessments for these new materials.
An understanding of the biology and behaviour of stored-product insect and mite pests is fundamental to the development of an integrated pest management strategy. To enable the full validation and exploitation of our control and monitoring technologies we have developed an in-depth understanding of the biology and behaviour of our target species. This is particularly important as these methods are adopted as industry standards. Effective control measures are also key to integrated pest management, and our work concentrates on developing and testing novel products for control.
Through Defra, EU, HGCA and commercially funded projects we are exploring technological solutions to underpin new legislation on commodity storage. The �Grain storage guide� written by us, is an industry standard and required reading for most assurance schemes.
Our unique acarological expertise, acquired in the context of grain storage, has enabled us to develop new approaches to animal health issues associated with sheep scab mites. This work will enable a reduction in the number of animals used in efficacy assessments for veterinary medicines and provide potential alternatives to conventional pesticides.
Achievements
- Establishing expertise in predictive toxicology ahead of Defra�s implementation of the new EU chemicals policy REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals).
- Developing computational models to predict toxicity of pesticides and metabolites for use by industry and regulators in an EU-funded project.
- Development of new technologies that will markedly improve the sensitivity and hence effectiveness of field kits for the detection of chemicals (eg. pesticides).
- Creating the first UK database of nanomaterials that will provide much-needed guidance for both industry and regulators.
- Developing a multi-species lure effective for seven species, which involved identifying key compounds using electrophysiology, mass spectrometry, behavioural bioassays, novel methods for measurement of volatile release and field-scale trials for validation.