Simon Carpenter

Simon T. Carpenter
Nationality British
Fields Entomology
Institutions Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Woking, Surrey
Alma mater BSc Royal Holloway, University of London, PhD Aberdeen University
Known for Research on Bluetongue virus transmission
Notable awards Rooker Prize

Dr. Simon Carpenter, Head of the Entomology and Modelling Group in the Vector-borne Diseases Programme at the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Institute for Animal Health’s Pirbright Laboratory in Woking, Surrey, is an entomologist who was awarded the first Rooker Prize in 2009 in recognition of his research on biting midges that transmit bluetongue virus (BTV), the causative agent of bluetongue disease, an important orbivirus disease of ruminants.[1]

Carpenter's field and laboratory research elucidated key details about how bluetongue virus is transmitted, enabling the establishment of "vector-free" and "transmission-free" periods following the first incursion of BTV into Britain in August 2007, which facilitated DEFRA's regulation of animal movements, saving the UK farming industry millions of pounds in trade and preserving thousands of jobs, significantly lessening the impact of BTV.[1][2][3]

Carpenter's Entomology and Modelling Group is responsible for maintaining the UK Culicoides reference laboratory, a center of taxonomic excellence whose responsibilities include operating the Culicoides.NET open-access internet facility, http://www.culicoides.net, and coordinating and performing Culicoides population surveys in the UK and overseas.[2] The group has identified new vectors of BTV that were previously thought to be of low epidemiological importance in transmission of the virus, resulting in better risk assessment for BTV and similar diseases in the northern Palaearctic regions.[2]

Personal

Carpenter is a native of London, England.[4] He holds a BSc degree from Royal Holloway College, University of London,[1] and completed his PhD degree at the University of Aberdeen in 2001;[5] his dissertation was on colonisation and dispersal of the Scottish biting midge, Culicoides impunctatus Goetghebuer.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 U.K. Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Veterinary Laboratories Agency Press Release: Inaugural Rooker Prize is awarded at VLA’s International Conference 2009, http://vla.defra.gov.uk/news/docs/new_pr_rooker.pdf, 9 September 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 EDENext Data Portal: Partner 12 – Institute of Animal Health (IAH), http://www.edenextdata.com/?q=content/iah, 22/06/2011.
  3. ↑ Tracey Duncombe, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council: Feature: Bleating Bluetongue, http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/publications/business/2009/autumn/feature-bleating-bluetongue.aspx, Autumn 2009.
  4. ↑ "Scientists are on the scent of a way to beat the midge", The Herald, August 2, 1999, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23751416.html, accessed 26 Dec 2011.
  5. ↑ LinkedIn Corporation: Simon Carpenter, Research Scientist at BBSRC, http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/simon-carpenter/41/312/5a3, accessed 26 Dec 2011.
  6. ↑ Google Books: Bibliographic information on "Colonisation and Dispersal Studies of the Scottish Biting Midge, Culicoides impunctatus Goetghebuer" by Simon Carpenter, https://books.google.com/books/about/Colonisation_and_dispersal_studies_of_th.html?id=ShEJGwAACAAJ, accessed 26 Dec 2011.
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