Donald Beasley

Program:	M.S.
Major Professor:	William Walton
E-Mail:	donald.beasley@email.ucr.edu
Office Location:	ENTMU 210
Lab Location:	ENTMU 203
Phone (office):	(951) 827-3918
Web Site:

Education

• B.S. Entomology, Texas A&M University, 2006

Research Focus

Unlike most animals, mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are not capable of desaturating and elongating C18 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) into C20 PUFA. C20 PUFA are important because they are the precursors of eicosanoids. Eicosanoids play important physiological roles in immunity, reproduction, and ion transport, to name a few. If mosquitoes cannot synthesize C20 PUFA themselves, they must acquire them in their diet. My research focuses on elucidating the source of C20 PUFA in the diet of Anopheles hermsi larvae.