Carnivorous Plants like Drosera Capensis have adhesive glandular trichomes, that's what inspired us! 

Petri-dish assays with thrips and chrysanthemum leaves indicated promising results

If not controlled, over time thrips can cause large amounts of damage in crops such as strawberry.

We investigate the effectiveness of the trichome mimics on thrips and the plant metabolome in a full plant system using plastic cages

LEIDEN UNIVERSITY

testing of TRICHOME MIMIC Efficacy using biological systems and Analytical Chemistry

Project Main-manager - Prof. Martijn Bezemer
Project Co-manager - Dr. Young Hae Choi
Postdoctoral Researcher - Dr. Hocelayne Paulino Fernandes
PhD Candidate - Thijs Bierman
Leiden develops and executes research methods aimed at examining the effectiveness of the trichome mimics against small pest arthropods. There are a number of research focusses.
(1) Assessment of herbivore damage and population growth reduction in presence of adhesive particles and substances using biological model systems
(2) Investigating effects of natural adhesive products on plant development, yield and metobolite content using analytical chemistry .
(3) Researching the use of plant-derived volatiles as attractants and repellants of pest arthropods, natural enemies and non-target organisms.
Product testing is an important part of any R&D process. In a continuous feedback loop with WAgeningen and Groningen we find out what works and why it does.
Leiden University