Over the past Summer, academics from the Navy Medical and Dental Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Intern Program worked alongside researchers at Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) in Silver Spring, Maryland and scientists with Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit (NEPMU)-2 to identify novel gene targets for next generation pesticide development.

Biological science majors from Howard University were recruited as summer interns to test and validate a new NMRC and NEMPU-2 developed protocol for gene detection and isolation using pests collected from maritime vessels by Lt. Jg. Luke Prescott, an entomologist with NEPMU-2.

This research represents a collaboration between multiple scientific, military, and academic entities. Prescott and his team deployed traps aboard U.S. Navy ships to obtain cockroach specimens, which were then frozen and transported to NMRC, where scientists with Navy Infectious Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and HBCU academics extracted and sequenced genetic material from the roaches. Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Jenkins, of NMRC; Lt. Daniel Silberger and Lt. Peter Mecredi, of NEPMU-2 were responsible for creating the protocol used to isolate specific genes from these roaches.

Shipboard pests are a sanitary concern for ships in the Fleet. Pesticide-resistance among populations of pests, such as roaches, can require increasing concentrations of pesticides, posing a fiscal drain on the Navy and a loss to operational tempo due to the quarantine of treated areas.

Under the supervision of NMRC staff, HBCU interns Kendal Pully, Kathryn Akurut, and Nency Matiemou used the processes designed by Navy scientists to isolate and sequence the portions of the shipboard roach genome responsible for pesticide-resistance. The discovery and identification of these genes is an essential step to develop the designer pesticides needed to improve maritime fleet health.

The HBCU Research Internship program was designed as a platform to introduce students to the diverse careers in Navy Medicine and associated Corps. Interns are given the opportunity to conduct vital Navy research and shadow Navy dentists, physicians, nurses and health care administrators.

Institutional and intellectual diversity is essential for the advancement of fleet readiness and health. This collaboration was jointly supported by the Office of Naval Research HBCU Research Internship program, Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), and the Department of Defense Global Emerging Infectious Surveillance program. The program also supports sustainment and advancement of the Navy health care mission, providing a platform for ongoing recruitment and growth of the Navy’s intellectually diverse workforce.