Connecticut State The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

Hany Dweck, Ph.D.

Department of Entomology
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
123 Huntington Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Voice: (203) 974-8531 Fax: (203) 974-8502
Email: Hany.Dweck@ct.gov

Laboratory website: https://www.dwecklab.com/

Expertise: 
Dr. Dweck has expertise in insect chemical ecology and insect chemoreception.

 

Education:
B.Sc. Cairo University, Egypt (2004) Entomology and Chemistry

M.Sc. Cairo University, Egypt (2004) Entomology and Sensory Biology

Ph.D. Friedrich Schiller University/Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany (2014), Chemical Ecology

 

Station Career:

Assistant Agricultural Scientist II, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station: 2023-present 

 

Post Graduate Career:

Research Associate, Yale University: 2023-present 

Research Scientist, Yale University: 2021-2023

LSRF Postdoctoral fellow, Yale University: 2018-2021

Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University: 2016-2018

Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology: 2014-2015

Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology: 2014-2015

 

Current Research:
Our lab studies chemosensory mechanisms and their role in insect-plant interactions and in the adaptation to new environments. We focus on a problem that is of both economic urgency and fundamental biological significance: how sensory systems evolve to allow insect species to become agricultural pests.

  

Spotted-wing Drosophila (SWD):

To address this problem, we study the novel egg-laying behavior of spotted-wing Drosophila (also known as Drosophila suzukii). Unlike most closely related species, which lay eggs on fermented fruit, D. suzukii lay eggs in early maturation stages, including both ripe fruit and earlier stages of ripening. D. suzukii is a serious pest to a wide variety of fruit crops, including strawberries, blueberries, peaches, cherries, and grapes.

 

Spotted lanternfly (SLF):

The spotted lanternfly (SLF) is a recently introduced plant pest to the United States and represents a threat to Connecticut’s environment, residential areas, and agricultural interests, particularly forests, orchards, vineyards, and nurseries. Like many other insects, SLF finds its hosts primarily through olfactory cues. It also depends on olfaction to avoid predators, aggregate, find mates, and identify sites to deposit its egg masses. We are interested in identifying olfactory mechanisms by which SLF interacts with its environment. Specifically, we aim to identify odors that are highly significant to SLF, the neurons/receptors that detect them, and the behaviors they elicit. The results may lead to new, economical and environmentally friendly approaches to controlling the invasion of crop and forest pests.

 

Techniques: in vivo electrophysiological recording of neural activity, behavioral analysis, chemical analysis (e.g. GC-MS), transcriptomics, and gene-editing.

 

Past Research:

Past research included detailed investigations of chemosensory systems and their functions and evolution. As a result of his contribution and efforts, Dr. Dweck received the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society.

 

Publications:

  • Wang, W., Dweck, H. K. M., Talross, G. J., Zaidi, A., Gendron, J., and Carlson, J. R. (2022). Sugar sensation and mechanosensation in the egg-laying preference shift of Drosophila suzukii. eLife, 11, e81703.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Talross, G. J., Lou, Y., Ebrahim, S. A. M., and Carlson, J. R. (2022). IR56b is an atypical ionotropic receptor that underlies appetitive salt response in Drosophila. Current Biology, 32, 1776-1787.
  • Xia, S., Dweck, H. K. M., Lutomiah, J., Sang, R., McBride, C. S., Rose, N. H., Ayala, D., and Powell, J. R. (2021). Oviposition of the mosquito Aedes aegypti in forest and domestic habitats in Africa. Ecology and Evolution, 11(22), 16327-16343.
  • Khallaf, M. A., Cui, R., Weißflog, J., Svatoš, A., Dweck, H. K. M., Valenzano, D. R., Hansson, B. S., and Knaden, M. (2021). Large-scale characterization of sex pheromone communication systems in Drosophila. Nature Communications, 12(1), 4165.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Talross, G. J., Wang, W., and Carlson, J. R. (2021). Evolutionary shifts in taste coding of the fruit pest Drosophila suzukii. eLife, 10, e64317.
  • Khallaf, M. A., Auer, T. O., Grabe, V., Depetris-Chauvin, A., Ammagarahalli, B., Zhang, D.-D., Lavista-Llanos, S., Kaftan, F., Weißflog, J., Matzkin, L. M., Rollmann, S. M., Löfstedt, C., Svatoš, A., Dweck, H. K. M., Sachse, S., Benton, R., Hansson, B. S., and Knaden, M. (2020). Mate discrimination among subspecies through a conserved olfactory pathway. Science Advances, 6, eaba5279.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., and Carlson, J. R. (2020). Molecular logic and evolution of bitter taste in Drosophila. Current Biology, 30, 1-14.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Ebrahim, S. A. M., Retzke, T., Grabe, V., Weißflog, J., Svatoš, A., Hansson, B. S., and Knaden, M. (2018). The olfactory logic behind fruit odor preferences in larval and adult Drosophila. Cell Reports, 23(8), 2524-2531.
  • Lebreton, S., Borrero-Echeverry, F., Gonzalez, F., Solum, M., Wallin, E., Hedenström, E., Hansson, B. S., Gustavsson, A., Bengtsson, M., Birgersson, G., Walker, W. B., Dweck, H. K. M., Becher, P. G., and Witzgall, P. (2017). The Drosophila melanogaster female pheromone is encoded together with food odor and mediates species-specific attraction. BMC Biology, 15, 88.
  • Seki, Y., Dweck, H. K. M., Rybak, J., Wicher, D., Sachse, S., and Hansson, B. S. (2017). Olfactory coding from the periphery to higher brain centers in the Drosophila brain. BMC Biology, 15, 56.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Ebrahim, S., Khallaf, M. A., Köni, C., Farhan, A., Stieber, R., Weißflog, J., Svatoš, A., Grosse-Wild, E., Knaden, M., and Hansson, B. S. (2016). Olfactory channels associated with the Drosophila maxillary palp mediate short- and long-range attraction. eLife, 5, e14925.
  • Grabe, V., Baschwitz A., Dweck, H. K. M., Lavista Llanos, S., Hansson, B. S., and Sachse, S. (2016). Elucidating the neuronal architecture of olfactory glomeruli in the Drosophila antennal lobe. Cell Reports, 16, 3401-3413.
  • Rezával, C., Pattnaik, S., Pavlou, H. J., Nojima, T., Brüggemeier, B., D’Souza, L. A. D., Dweck, H. K. M., and Goodwin, S. F. (2016). Activation of Latent Courtship Circuitry in the Brain of Drosophila Females Induces Male-like Behaviors. Current Biology, 26, 2508-2515.
  • Ebrahim, S. A. M., Dweck, H. K. M., Stökl, J., Hofferberth, J. E., Trona, F., Rybak, J., Yoichi, S., Stensmyr, M. C., Sachse, S., Hansson, B. S., and Knaden, M. (2015). Drosophila avoids parasitoids by sensing their semiochemicals via a dedicated olfactory circuit. PlosBiology, 13(12), e1002318.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Ebrahim, S. A. M., Thoma, M., Mohamed, A. A. M., Keesey, I. W., Trona, F., Lavista-Llanos, S., Svatos, A., Sachse, S., Knaden, M., and Hansson, B. S. (2015). Pheromones Mediate Copulation and Attraction in Drosophila. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(21), E2829-E2835.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Knaden, M., and Hansson, B. S. (2015). Functional loss of yeast detectors parallels transition to herbivory (commentary). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(10), 2927-2928.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Ebrahim, S. A. M., Farhan, A., Hansson, B. S., and Stensmyr, M. C. (2015). Olfactory proxy detection of dietary antioxidants in Drosophila. Current Biology, 25, 455-466.
  • Mißbach, C., Dweck, H. K. M., Vogel, H., Vilcinskas, A., Stensmyr, M. C., Hansson, B. S., and Grosse-Wilde, E. (2014). Evolution of insect olfactory receptors. eLife, 3, e02115.
  • Date, P., Dweck, H. K. M., Stensmyr, M. C., Shann, J., Hansson, B. S., and Rollmann, S. M. (2013). Divergence in olfactory host plant preference in D. mojavensis in response to cactus host use. PLoS One, 8(7), e70027.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Ebrahim, S. A. M., Kromann, S., Bown, D., Hillbur, Y., Sachse, S., Hansson, B. S., and Stensmyr, M. C. (2013). Olfactory Preference for Egg Laying on Citrus Substrates in Drosophila. Current Biology, 23, 2472-2480.
  • Linz, J., Baschwitz, A., Strutz, A., Dweck, H. K. M., Sachse, S., Hansson, B. S., and Stensmyr, M. C. (2013). Host plant-driven sensory specialization in Drosophila erecta. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280, 20130626.
  • Stensmyr, M. C., Dweck, H. K. M., Farhan, A., Ibba, I., Strutz, A., Mukunda, L., Linz, J., Grabe, V., Steck, K., Lavista Llanos, S., Wicher, D., Sachse, S., Knaden, M., Becher, P. G., Seki, Y., and Hansson, B. S. (2012). A conserved dedicated olfactory circuit for detecting harmful microbes in Drosophila. Cell, 151(6), 1345-1357.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Svensson, G. P., Gündüz, E. A., and Anderbrant, O. (2010). Kairomonal response of the parasitoid, Bracon hebetor Say, to the male-produced sex pheromone of its host, the greater waxmoth, Galleria mellonella (L.). Journal of Chemical Ecology, 36, 171-178.
  • Dweck, H. K. M. (2009). Antennal sensory receptors of Pteromalus puparum (hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) a gregarious pupal endoparasitoid of Pieris rapae. Micron, 40, 769-774.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., and Gadallah, N. S. (2008). Description of the antennal sensilla of Habrobracon hebetor. Biological Control, 53, 841-856.
  • Dweck, H. K. M., Gadallah, N. S., and Darwish, E. (2008). Structure and sensory receptors of the ovipositor of Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Micron, 39, 1255-1261.