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Facilities and Service Labs

In addition to our classrooms, computer labs and teaching preparation rooms, the department utilizes many specialized laboratories and buildings.

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Entomology EAP 2018.pdf

Insect Identification Lab website is currently being overhauled and will be available at a later date. 

A Beneficial Insect Quarantine Laboratory with an adjacent greenhouse is located at the Price's Fork Research facility. It is used to screen insects with potential as biological control agents. This is a federally approved facility consisting of a single-story building with unique features which meet the specifications of USDA APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services). It is currently being used for the evaluation of the host specificity of potential biological control agents of weeds. Access to this building is restricted to personnel directly involved in the on-going research and other authorized personnel.

Contact:

Carrie Jubb
Quarantine Lab
540-231-6320
cjubb@vt.edu

BSL3

This suite consists of three workrooms, a corridor, and two anterooms. This Biosafety Level 3 area was designed and built specifically for work with mosquitoes and arboviruses, with features including all-white walls, ceilings, and casework; lowered ceilings, and multiple CO2 jets per room for anesthetizing adult mosquitoes as well as running cell culture incubators.  It is located in the Fralin Biotechnology Center. 

BSL2

This is a cell culture and arbovirus laboratory. This facility is maintained at the Biosafety Level 2 for work involving agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment. Equipment includes a biological safety cabinet, carbon dioxide incubators and an ultralow freezer. A walk-in environmental chamber is used for maintaining mosquito colonies.

The campus insectary building has historically been used to support biological control programs.  Currently, the insectary houses several colonies of predatory insects for use in on going forest entomology bio-control programs. The insectary is a shared space utilized by students for research purposes and staff for operational rearing of predators.  Insectary facilities include two temperature controlled rearing rooms allowing for mass production of these predators.

Glass and plastic greenhouses are available at the Washington Street greenhouse complex for plant production for field, laboratory and greenhouse research.

The Fralin Insectaries are located in Rooms 320A, 320A1 and 319 in the Fralin Biotechnology Center. These facilities are shared between researchers in the Departments of Entomology and Biochemistry, and support the CALS and University focus on Vector-Borne Infectious Disease research.

The Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory (DUPML) is a facility dedicated to the research of urban arthropod pests in structures and the landscape. The laboratory was established in 1990 through funds donated by the Virginia Pest Management Association. The mission of the laboratory is to conduct research and provide the most innovative pest management information to the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, pest management professionals, and the public.

The DUPML is a 2,950 square foot building housing three research laboratories (one lab is dedicated to pesticide application tests), two insect rearing areas, and staff office space.  The staff of the DUPML currently includes Dini Miller, a research technician, and three graduate students. 

Contact:

Dini Miller
Professor
(540) 231-4045
dinim@vt.edu

A storage building located adjacent to the Entomology Service Building on Glade Road serves as a facility of safe storage of large supplies of insecticides needed for field studies.

This production shop includes many hand and power tools for creating and modifying equipment needed for teaching and research. Because of the hazards involved, the facility is restricted for use only by its manager, a highly skilled technician. Requests for services of the shop should be made through the Department Head or, for graduate students, through the student's Major Professor.