WOOSTER, Ohio — The Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster honored two researchers for their innovative studies dealing with tomatoes and insects. The center is part of The Ohio State University.

David Denlinger, a professor at OSU’s Department of Entomology, was named winner of the Distinguished Senior Faculty Research Award. This honors outstanding achievements by an OARDC faculty member at the rank of professor.

Denlinger is considered one of the world’s preeminent researchers in insect physiology related to how insects handle environmental extremes. His work has implications for both agriculture and human health.

He was recognized for his research on the physiological and molecular mechanisms regulating insect cold hardiness and dormancy, and for his pioneering work on the regulation of reproduction in the tsetse fly, which transmits human disease.

Denlinger’s early research on the overwintering diapause (or period of suspended development) of flesh flies helped establish one of the best-known models for studying insect diapause. The work led to the development of agents that disrupt the dormancy period of crop-eating insects of the Heliothis/Helicoverpa complex, including the corn earworm, a breakthrough paving the way to natural and targeted controls against those pests.

His studies provide the foundation for current understanding of mechanisms used by insects for overwintering, and have generated new tools that can disrupt the insect lifecycle. In addition, his studies of insect cold tolerance found that many species produce heat shock proteins in winter – and that knocking out the genes encoding those proteins leaves the insects vulnerable to harm from the cold.

Denlinger has also made important contributions to the study of human and animal disease vectors, including early research that led to using hormones to control tsetse flies in Africa. More recent efforts include looking at dormancy as a way to control mosquitoes that transmit West Nile virus and dengue.

His career has involved field and laboratory work in the United States, Europe, eastern Africa, Central America and Antarctica. He is currently studying how the midge Belgica antarctica survives extreme conditions and is working with colleagues to sequence the insect’s genome, the first-ever sequencing project for a polar organism.

Denlinger is the editor of the Journal of Insect Physiology. He holds a doctorate from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s degree from Penn State.

David Francis, an associate professor in OSU’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, received the Director’s Innovator of the Year award. The award honors innovation and entrepreneurship by OARDC scientists.

Francis, a tomato breeder and geneticist, is internationally recognized for his application of bioinformatics, gene expression arrays and next-generation sequencing technology to the development of tomato varieties that are more resistant to common diseases in the Great Lakes region, and that may improve human health and nutrition. He has introduced innovations that will impact agricultural production and enhance rural communities.

Among his achievements, Francis successfully led an effort to develop the first high-density genotyping tool for tomato, which resulted in the selection of a subset of single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, optimized for use in cultivated tomato populations.

Francis has used the SNPs to identify new research to diseases such as bacterial spot, which cost the Ohio tomato industry an estimated $10 million in yield losses in 2010 alone.

His work also led to the development of tomato germplasm with increased levels of beneficial compounds such as lycopene and carotenoids, concentrating on the nutritional and health benefits of tomatoes with enhanced antioxidant content.

In addition, Francis has previously received the Indiana Horticulture Society’s Red Tie Award and the Tomato Achievement Award from the Mid-America Food Processors Assoc. Francis holds a doctorate from the University of California-Davis and a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College in California.