Molecular Basis of Insect Olfaction
& Chemical Ecology

Welcome to the research page of the Leal Lab
in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology,
College of Biological Sciences,
at the University of California-Davis.

Principal Investigator
Walter S. Leal, Ph.D

Honorary Fellow, Royal Entomological Society
Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI)
Member,National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
(wsleal at ucdavis.edu)

Research

Our laboratory is interested in understanding how insects perceive the world through the sense of smell.
Click here for more information

Our PacVec Team Studying Mosquito Repellents

Sarbjot Singh, Tiffany Ng, Walter Leal, Sunny An, and Cady Vartanian
PacVec is the Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases
funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Our Most Recent Paper
Current Biology 34 (3), 568-578

Circabidian rhythm of sex pheromone reception in a scarab beetle

Scientific Reports 14 (3), Article Number 455 (2024)

The greening-causing agent alters the behavioral and electrophysiological responses
of the Asian citrus psyllid to a putative sex pheromone

Walter Leal is the recipient of the 2024 Faculty Distinguished Research Award
from the Davis Division of the Academic Senate.
See Faculty Spotlight here

Watch the 2024 FDRA Lecture here

Watch the Supplemental Video for the 2024 FDRA Lecture here

If you Can't Access YouTube
Watch the 2024 FDRA Lecture here

If you Can't Access YouTube
Watch the Supplemental Video for 2024 FDRA Lecture here

Teaching
The most gratifying component of my being as a university professor is the opportunity to motivate students,
trigger their curiosity, unlock their imagination, and help them improve their critical thinking.

MCB199: Special Study SQ24 Let's Talk: Mind Matters

From the left: Tiffany Liu, Jude Haidar, Natalia Lazzareschi, Mitchell Bancks, Sydney McCann, Walter Leal,
Hailey Rosales, Brian Tanczos, Bryce Nguyen, Shaune Wales (Photo by Shaune Wales Photography)

These students co-organized "Let's Talk: Mind Matters - in Memory of Karim Abou Najm"
Watch the event here

Watch a slideshow of the event here

BIS102 WQ24

Then, it was time to thank students for the superb quarter. I'll be back to this class in WQ25.

MCB199: Special Study SQ23

Students in this class created Wikipedia pages for notable UC Davis Faculty, such as

Barbara A. Horwitz,

and videos about names behind UC Davis's buildings

Who's Green? The Green Hall

Who's Peter Shields? The Shields Library

Who's Walker? The Walker Hall

Who's Olson? The Olson Hall

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Publications

in NCBI

in Google Scholar

Laboratory Members, Students, and Collaborators
who Authored these Publications
Click here to see shapshots of the lab page over the years

Dr. Pingxi Xu

Dr. Young-Moo Choo

Arodi Prado

Graduate Student, USP-ESALQ

Candice Zheng

Thiago A. Franco

Visiting Researcher & Graduate Student, UFRJ

Dr. Flavia P. Franco

Raquel Lima e Silva

Dr. Su Liu

Dr. Linya Zhang

Xiaolan Wen

Dr. Tiantao Zhang

Xiang Meng

Fangfang Zeng

Daniele S. Oliveira

Graduate Student, UFRJ

Gabriel Faierstein

Graduate Student, IAM-FIOCRUZ/PE

Kaiming Tan

WeiYu (James) Lu

Suzane Alves

Graduate Student, IAM-FIOCRUZ/PE

Justin K. Hwang

Helena M. Leal

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Research Activities in our Lab are Sponsored by:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Research Agreement with FUNDECITRUS
Gifts from Various Donors, including
Bedoukian Research Incorporation

Address
Walter S. Leal
1107 Surge I, The Grove
UC Davis/MCB
Phone: +1-530-752-7755
Email: wsleal at ucdavis.edu

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Site maintained by Walter S. Leal
Design was adapted from http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/
Last Updated: 05/22/2024