Federal Grant Award Summary

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) received a $432,357 Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), effective June 1, 2026, through March 31, 2031. The award funds fundamental research to decode the temperature and moisture sensory mechanisms in insects, with a focus on understanding how insects detect and integrate these critical environmental variables to regulate behavior and maintain physiological homeostasis.

The research utilizes fruit fly larvae as a model system to identify the molecular receptors, sensory neurons, and neural circuits responsible for temperature and moisture detection. This work will advance understanding of how animals sense environmental stimuli and has direct applications to predicting insect population dynamics, distribution patterns, and disease vector behavior—particularly relevant given that temperature and moisture conditions directly influence the outbreak of agricultural pests and disease-carrying insects. The research leverages fruit fly larvae's transparent bodies, short lifecycles, simple nervous systems, and established genetic tools to enable precise molecular manipulation and visualization of sensory mechanisms, with findings expected to be applicable across insect species due to the evolutionary conservation of these sensing systems.