Geraldine (Jeri) Wright is an

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

neuroethologist in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 2018 she became the Professor of Comparative Physiology/Organismal Biology at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and in 2021 she was appointed

Hope Professor of Zoology The Hope Professor of Zoology (Entomology) is a professorship at Oxford University. The first Hope Professor was John Obadiah Westwood. The current holder is Geraldine Wright. The position is associated with a professorial fellowship at Jesus ...

Education and career

Born in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Wright did a BSc in

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

and then a PhD in insect

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...

and

herbivory A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

Hertford College Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

as a Rhodes Scholar in 1994. She moved to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

to do postdoctoral research on olfaction in honeybees in the Rothenbuhler Honeybee Laboratory and she also completed an MSc in Statistics at Ohio State University. Wright later moved to Newcastle University as a lecturer, then Reader and subsequently Professor in Neuroethology. She moved to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 2018 where she is Professor of Comparative Physiology/Organismal Biology and Tutorial Fellow of

Research

Wright's research has looked at the effects of intoxication in honeybees with

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

, finding that with increased ethanol consumption the bees spent less time on normal behaviours such as flying, walking and grooming, and instead spent more time upside down. She has also done research to look for

emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is currently no scientific ...

s in bees, testing their responses to smells that were unfamiliar to them. Bees that had been subjected to an uncomfortable experience prior to the test were less likely to test the smells, and were perceived as pessimists compared to those that had not had the experience. Levels of neurotransmitters such as

Octopamine Octopamine (molecular formula C8H11NO2; also known as OA, and also norsynephrine, ''para''-octopamine and others) is an organic chemical closely related to norepinephrine, and synthesized biologically by a homologous pathway. Octopamine is ofte ...

, dopamine and serotonin were also lower in bees that had the uncomfortable experience. Her work has also looked at the effects of insecticides on bees, finding that a combination of insecticides can have a greater detrimental effect on bee learning and memory than a single compound. Wright also found that the

nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...

present in neonicotinoid insecticides may 'give bees a buzz', as honeybees and

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera ...

s preferred food containing neonicotinoids over that without. In contrast she found that

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...

can improve the

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

of bees of a particular scent that might bear nectar and subsequent research by Wright showed that bees have two

neuron A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. ...

s in each tastebud which help regulate bees' response to particular tastes.

References

External links

University of Oxford profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Geraldine Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British entomologists Women entomologists Scientists from Wyoming American expatriates in the United Kingdom University of Wyoming alumni Ohio State University alumni Academics of Newcastle University American Rhodes Scholars Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford 21st-century British scientists 21st-century American women scientists American women academics