Patricia Pietrantonio

Areas of Expertise

• Insect Toxicology
• Insect Physiology
• Vector Biology: mosquitoes and ticks G protein-coupled receptors
• Neuropeptide hormones
• Insecticide resistance molecular diagnostics

Professional Summary

Patricia V. Pietrantonio, Ph.D., is a professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Entomology. Her research and teaching interests are in Insect Toxicology and Insect Physiology, utilizing organismal, biochemical, molecular, and cellular approaches. Her research scope includes discovering novel targets for arthropod control, with emphasis on G protein-coupled receptors. Target-based high-throughput screening of small molecule libraries yields novel stable chemicals for physiological research. The focus is on invasive disease vectors (mosquitoes and ticks). Other areas of emphasis are detection and monitoring of insecticide resistance in mosquito vectors of arboviruses. Over the past five years, she has obtained more than $2.4 million in funding to her research program and about $7 million dollars for her career. Pietrantonio’s publications have 4,433 citations, with 1,275 since 2019. She served as President of the Acarological Society of America in 2022 and serves in the Editorial Boards of the journals Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology. Until 2021 she was Associate Editor of Pest Management Science. She has graduated 9 Ph.D. students, 3 M.S., 1 M. Ag. and trained 19 post-docs and 12 international visiting scientists. Service includes being TAMU senator (2023-2024) and co-Chair and Chair of the Tenure and Promotion Committee in the Department of Entomology (2023-2024).