Insecticides are unique among environmental toxicants because they are intentionally released into the environment with the knowledge that they present a toxicity risk to nontarget species, including humans, by the same modes of action that confer their desirable insecticidal properties.  Knowledge of insecticide mode of action is therefore essential to the management of the risks associated with insecticide use.  Because most insecticides act on the nervous system, the major emphasis of my research program is to identify the sites of action of insecticides in the nervous system and elucidate the mode of action of insecticides acting at those sites.  Specific goals of my research include the elucidation of mechanisms of toxic action for established and experimental insecticides, identification of the molecular mechanisms underlying target site-mediated resistance to insecticides, development of new research tools and strategies for the discovery of improved insect control agents, and characterization of mechanisms underlying insecticide toxicity to non-target organisms, including humans.  Current research employs the molecular cloning of target site genes from insect and mammalian neuronal tissues, the transient or stable heterologous expression of target macromolecules in vertebrate or insect cells in culture, and functional and pharmacological analysis of the expressed targets ins support of these objectives.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Chemical Society
Entomological Society of America
Society for Neuroscience
Society of Toxicology

HONORS AND AWARDS
Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1976-77
Pacific Lutheran University Centennial Alumnus, 1990
Entomological Society of America Eastern Branch Distinguished Achievement Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, 2001

GRADUATE MAJORS
Jared G. Rubin (Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology; 1992)
Joseph E. Henderson (Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology; 1994)
Timothy J. Smith (Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology; 1998)
Kristopher S. Silver (Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology; 2005)
Richard von Stein (Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology anticipated 2010)

GRADUATE MINORS
Anuar Morales (M.S. in Entomology anticipated 2008)

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

• "Pyrethroids and the FQPA Conundrum," ACS Agrochemicals Division symposium for the International Award in Research on Agrochemicals, New Orleans, LA 2003

• "New Tools for Insecticide Discovery," FMC Corporation, Princeton, NJ, 2003

• "Pyrethroids and Sodium Channels," plenary lecture, Neurotox 2003: Neurotoxicological Targets from Functional Genomics and Proteomics, Nottingham, UK, 2003

• "Actions of Pyrethroids on Individual Sodium Channel Isoforms," USEPA Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC, 2004
  "Isoform-Dependent Effects of Pyrethroids on Mammalian Sodium Channels," ACS Agrochemicals Division symposium for the International Award in Research on Agrochemicals, Philadelphia, PA, 2004

• "Insect Molecular Neurobiology: Applications for Insecticide Discovery," Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, 2005

• "Pyrethroid Neurotoxicity and Effects on Ion Channels," plenary lecture, Pyrethroid Working Group International Workshop on Mechanisms of Pyrethroid Toxicity, Research Triangle Park, NC, 2006

• "Pyrethroids, Knockdown Resistance, and Sodium Channels," ACS Agrochemicals Division symposium for the International Award in Research on Agrochemicals, Chicago, IL, 2007

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• Lee, S. H., T. J. Smith, D. C. Knipple and D. M. Soderlund.  1999.  Mutations in the house fly Vssc1 sodium channel gene associated with super-kdr resistance abolish the pyrethroid sensitivity of Vssc1/tipE sodium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes.  Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 29: 185-194.

• Soderlund, D. M. and S. H. Lee.  2001.  Point mutations in homology domain II modify the sensitivity of rat Nav1.8 sodium channels to the pyrethroid insecticide cismethrin.  NeuroToxicology 22: 755-765.

• Soderlund, D. M., J. M. Clark, L. P. Sheets, L. S. Mullin, V. J. Piccirillo, D. Sargent, J. T. Stevens, and M. L. Weiner.  2002.  Mechanisms of pyrethroid neurotoxicity:  implications for cumulative risk assessment.  Toxicology 171: 3-59.

• Soderlund, D. M. and D. C. Knipple.  2003.  The molecular biology of knockdown resistance.  Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 33: 563-577.

• Choi, J.-S. and D. M. Soderlund.  2004.  Cyclosporin A and deltamethrin block the downregulation of Nav1.8 sodium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes.  Neurosci. Lett. 367: 389-393.

• Soderlund, D. M.  2005.  Sodium channels. In "Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science" (L. I. Gilbert, K. Iatrou and S. S. Gill, Eds.), Elsevier, New York,  Vol. 5, pp. 1-24.

• Silver, K. and D. M. Soderlund.  2005.  State-dependent block of rat Nav1.4 sodium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes by pyrazoline-type insecticides.  NeuroToxicology 26: 397-406.

• Silver, K. S. and D. M. Soderlund.  2006.  Differential sensitivity of rat sodium channel isoforms to pyrazoline-type insecticides. Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 214: 209-217.

• Choi, J.-S. and D. M. Soderlund.  2006.  Structure-activity relationships for the action of 11 pyrethroid insecticides on rat Nav1.8 sodium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes.  Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 211: 233-244.

• Silver, K. S. and D. M. Soderlund.  2007.  Point mutations at the local anesthetic receptor site modulate the state-dependent block of rat Nav1.4 sodium channels by pyrazoline-type insecticides.  NeuroToxicology 28: 655-663.