The statewide University of California Mosquito Research Program is seeking grant proposals on mosquito control.

Proposals are due by 5 p.m., Monday, April 2 in 396 Briggs Hall on the UC Davis campus, said medical entomologist and program director Gregory Lanzaro. Approximately $300,000 is available.

Lanzaro said the program's primary goal is "to conduct research to improve methods of managing pest and disease-transmitting mosquitoes, thus protecting the citizens of California from mosquito-borne disease and discomfort from mosquito bites."

Eligible to apply are University of California faculty members with principal investigator status. Categories are chemical control methods, including application technology; mosquito biology and ecology; integrated pest management, including biological control; and public health.

A technical committee will evaluate the proposals for scientific merit and relevance to problems associated with the control of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases of public health significance.

Principal investigators will each present a 15-minute program describing their proposal at the annual Grant Proposal Presentation Day, set Tuesday, May 22 in the Mission Inn, Riverside.

Last year the West Nile virus infected 276 people in 36 of California's 58 counties, killing seven, according to the California Department of Health Services. Deaths occurred in Butte, Contra Costa, Fresno, Riverside and Shasta counties.

The UC Mosquito Research Program awarded eight grants last year to UC Davis and UC Riverside researchers:
. Peter Atkinson, UC Riverside, "High Frequency Culex Genetic Transformation"
. Nancy Beckage, UC Riverside, "Biopesticidal Action Of RH-2485 and the Formation INTREPID on Culex Vectors of West Nile Virus Transmission"
. Aaron Brault, UC Davis, "Temperature Regulation of Arbovirus Replication: Identification of Eurythermic Determinants of West Nile, St. Louis Encephalitis and Western Equine Encephalitis Viruses"
. Aaron Brault, UC Davis, "Increased Diagnostic Capacity for the Detection of California Mosquito-Borne Viruses"
. Anthony Cornel, UC Davis, "Development of a Reliable and Sensitive PCR Diagnostic Assay For Detection of Pyrethroid Knock Down Resistance in Culex pipiens sensu latu"
. Sharon Lawler, UC Davis, "Do Repeated Applications of ULV PyrenoneT Affect Zooplankton or Aquatic Insects?"
. William Reisen, UC Davis, "Do Corvid Roosts Affect the Risk of Urban West Nile Virus Transmission In California?"
. William Walton, UC Riverside, "Efficacy of a Native Biological Agent against West Nile Vectors Inhabiting Constructed Treatment Wetlands"

Further information on the grant process is available on the UCMRP Web site at http://www.ucmrp.ucdavis.edu/research/requestforproposals.html, or by contacting administrative assistant Nancy Dullum at (530) 752-6983 or nadullum@ucdavis.edu.

UCMRP, founded in 1972, is a statewide program of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The statewide programs focus on research and extension in solving priority problems in the management of California agriculture, natural resources and human development.

Links:
Call for Proposals: http://www.ucmrp.ucdavis.edu/research/requestforproposals.html
Special Interest Topics: http://www.ucmrp.ucdavis.edu/research/specialinterest.html