PNAS profile: Celebrating Bruce Tabashnik's career of breakthroughs

Bruce Tabashnik has spent his career tackling the challenges of pest resistance to insecticides and genetically engineered crops. From an early age, Tabashnik knew he wanted to become a scientist. His parents nurtured his interest by organizing weekly trips to the public library in Detroit, Michigan, and buying him a chemistry set and microscope.

“I’ve always loved mysteries and reading detective stories,” said Tabashnik, Regents' professor and head of the Department of Entomology. “One of the things I love most about being a scientist is trying to solve mysteries.”

Inspired to improve global food security, Tabashnik pursued a PhD at Stanford University, researching how insects adapt and become pests. Over the years, his curiosity led him to explore how pests evolve resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops­—genetically modified crops that help growers manage pests sustainably.

Tabashnik’s work has had worldwide impact. By leading the effort to eradicate the pink bollworm, a pest which devastated cotton crops throughout the U.S. and northern Mexico, he helped save farmers hundreds of millions of dollars and drastically reduce pesticide use. Today, Tabashnik and his team use cutting-edge genomics to uncover unexpected resistance development in pests, like the Helicoverpa zea.

Read the full profile on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website.