Leslie Pick

Portrait of Leslie Pick

Leslie Pick

Entomology Professor
lpick@umd.edu 1109 A.v. Williams Building
301 405 3914

Teaching

BISI712: Rcr For Biologists
ENTM701: Tchng & Prof Dvlp Biol
ENTM788C: Colloquium
HLSC322: Genetics & Genomics

Graduate Program Affiliations

Biological Sciences (BISI): Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (BEES)
Biological Sciences (BISI): Molecular and Cell Biology (MOCB)
Entomology

Research

The Pick lab studies the function and evolution of regulatory genes that control embryonic development. The lab is currently focused on ‘evo-devo’ studies that compare gene expression and function in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster to other insect species, revealing unexpected levels of genetic variation across insect phyla. The development of molecular methods in diverse insects, including mosquitoes, beetles and milkweed bugs, has led the lab to begin exploring mechanisms underlying RNAi susceptibility in insects.

Education

Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, 1986
B.S., Wesleyan University, 1977

Latest Papers

Arthropod Pax Gene Evolution: A Role for Vanessa Cardui Twin of Eyeless in Eye Development

| Molecular Biology and Evolution
UMD Author(s): Leslie Pick


A conserved sequence that sparked the field of evo-devo

| Developmental Biology
UMD Author(s): Leslie Pick


Same rule, different genes: Blimp1 is a pair-rule gene in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus

| Science advances
Author(s): Katie Reding, Matthew Chung, Abigail Heath, et. al
UMD Author(s): Leslie Pick


Genome editing of the vermilion locus generates a visible eye color marker for Oncopeltus fasciatus

| Scientific Reports
Author(s): Katie Reding, Minh Lê, Leslie Pick
UMD Author(s): Leslie Pick