Speakers will present via zoom, so everyone will also have the option of attending via zoom if you do not wish to attend in person. Doors will open at 6:45pm and snacks will be shared.
Mini Presentation:
Inside the Hive - Joshua Davis will be speaking briefly about the mission of College Settlement, their environmental focus, and on how the observation hive will benefit their program by allowing campers to see, firsthand, the inner workings of a bee hive.
Main Topic:
Dr. Jay Evans
Bio:Jay Evans was born in Seattle, Washington, USA and started studying insect colonies in college (Princeton University) and graduate school (University of Utah) while pursuing degrees in genetics and behavior. He soon realized the wonders of honey bee colonies. He is a Lead Scientist in the US Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory (Beltsville, MD), where he has focused on interactions between bees and the pathogens and parasites that torment them. He was a leader in the Honey Bee Genome Project and has helped develop new genetic tools for bee breeding and disease diagnostics, while looking for safe medicines to reduce the impacts of bee disease. He has received USDA awards for ‘Early Career’ (2003) and ‘Senior’ (2023) Scientist of the Year, and the EAS James Hambleton Award for Bee Research. He has enjoyed mentoring dozens of students and professional researchers. He writes a monthly research column for Bee Culture magazine (www.beesfoundintranslation.org) and enjoys frequent talks with beekeepers.
"Natural Products for Honey Bee Immunity & Disease Resistance " . Honey bee losses for large- and small-scale beekeepers are often caused by disease and, more pointedly, by mites and the viruses they transmit to bees. While breeding of resistant or tolerant bees remains a worthy goal, it is also important to manage disease. Disease management can be indirect (e.g., controlling mites as a means of reducing virus loads), or through various medicines. We are woefully short on medicines for most of the harmful bee microbes and I will review research aimed at building that arsenal. Natural products provide a worthy avenue for safe medicines that are more easily pushed through regulatory steps.
