Education
B.S., St. John’s University
Ph.D., North Dakota State University

Description
Thomas Coudron is a research chemist in the USDA ARS, and lead scientist of a research program developing methods for propagation of beneficial insects used in biological control systems. His research focuses on the physiological interactions among insects, and the role these interactions serve in biological control. Of specific interest is how parasitoids regulate the development of their insect hosts and the nutritional ecology of insect parasitoids and predators, with an emphasis on developing artificial diets for entomophagous natural enemies. Currently he is studying the plasticity of insect digestive physiology by using nutrigenomics, immunocytohistology and enzymology to unravel the insect’s physiological and biochemical responses to changes in its nutrition.