Steven M. Presley, a professor of environmental toxicology at Texas Tech University, will testify about his work related to the Zika virus in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology at 9:15 a.m. CDT Wednesday (May 25) in Washington, D.C.
Presley’s testimony at the hearing, “Science of Zika: The DNA of an Epidemic” will be live-streamed here. He will be joined on the panel by experts from the University of Arizona, Harvard and Oxitec, an insect control company.
Presley, who is the director of the Biological Threat Research Laboratory and Bioterrorism Response Laboratory at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH), will speak to U.S. representatives about his labs’ Zika-related work and his role on the task force for the State of Texas response to Zika and public health protection. Presley’s lab is biosafety level three (BSL-3) and allows Texas Tech to be a public resource for the identification and confirmation of biological samples for outbreaks of infectious diseases and other public health emergencies.
In his work at TIEHH, Presley focuses on recognizing the risks and threats associated with infectious pathogens, with the goal of developing and fielding preventive measures against vector-borne infectious and zoonotic diseases. His lab collects and studies mosquitoes not only for Zika but also for West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus and Chikungunya. He is the chairman of the publications committee and on the science and technology committee of the American Mosquito Control Association and serves as regional director of the South Central United States for the Society for Vector Ecology.
(News release from Texas Tech University)
