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Member Symposium

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology

The Sterile Insect Technique: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions

New, highly reliable X-ray systems with temperature control for adult insect X-ray SIT

Tuesday, November 12, 2024
10:04 AM – 10:22 AM MST
Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 131 A
Oral Presentation
X-Ray SIT provides a well-tested, proven safe alternative to GMO and radioisotopic based SIT approaches to insect control. However, X-Ray SIT has not typically been considered as reliable as the 137Cs and 60Co radioisotopic systems currently employed at many SIT sites. Here we describe operation and testing of a new line of X-Ray SIT systems that employ metal ceramic, fully vacuum sealed X-ray tubes for highly reliable, research and long-term production of sterilized insects. These systems also include a new temperature-controlled insect module that ensures adult insects are safely held in controlled torpor during the entire X-ray irradiation step. Dosimetry, dose uniformity and throughput measurements as well as biological effectiveness in a variety of insects including mosquitos, fruit flies, tsetse flies, moths and beetles will be discussed.