Avian White (EH Research Technician), who is pursuing a DrPH degree in Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) in the ECU Department of Public Health, has her research accepted for the 71st Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) to be held in Savannah, GA, Oct 20-23, 2019. Her research is titled “Functionalized Shell-Shell-Core (SSC) Nanopesticide for Mosquito Control”. Founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society. Its vision is to improve people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Avian’s work explores coupling low-concentration functionalized nanoparticles with Deltamethrin (DM), a widely used synthetic pyrethroid that is losing its potency against mosquitoes, forming a shell-shell-core (SSC) nanosystem, and tests for potential inhibition against different species and strains of Aedes mosquitoes that vector viruses that are known to cause debilitating diseases including dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, and eastern equine encephalitis. Dr. Lok Pokhrel, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Public Health and Health Education and Promotion, serves as Avian’s mentor for her dissertation research and is the senior author on the paper.
