Two major research grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will support research on the neurotoxic actions of insecticides in the laboratory of David Soderlund, Cornell professor of insecticide toxicology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station.

These grants, which will provide more than $2.5 million over five years, are among the largest single-investigator research grants ever awarded to a member of the Experiment Station’s faculty. The projects involve two chemical classes of insecticides that target the sodium ion channel proteins of nerve membranes.

These proteins play a critical role in the electrical signaling of nerve cells. This research is expected to provide new insights into mechanisms of insecticide toxicity that will aid in assessing human health risks associated with the use of these insecticides.

For both projects, Soderlund will use cloned sodium channel genes to turn cultured cells into synthetic nerve cells. This technique avoids the use of experimental animals as a source of nervous tissue and has the added benefit of giving researchers precise knowledge of and control over the specific sodium channel proteins they are studying.