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 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds science, scient ...

Institute for Animal Health's Pirbright Laboratory in

Woking, Surrey Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, is an

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

who was awarded the first Rooker Prize in 2009 in recognition of his research on

biting midge Ceratopogonidae is a family of flies commonly known as no-see-ums, sand flies or biting midges, generally in length. The family includes more than 5,000 species, distributed worldwide, apart from the Antarctic and the Arctic. A 2025 study from ...

s that transmit

bluetongue virus Bluetongue virus (BTV) is a dsRNA virus of the genus '' Orbivirus''. The virus causes Bluetongue disease.ICTV''Bluetongue virus'' EC 51, Berlin, Germany, July 2019; Email ratification March 2020 (MSL #35) BTV is relatively fragile and its infe ...

( BTV), the causative agent of

bluetongue disease Bluetongue (BT) disease is a noncontagious, arthropod-borne viral disease affecting ruminants, primarily sheep and other domestic or wild ruminants, including cattle, yaks, goats, buffalo, deer, dromedaries, and antelope. It is caused by ...

, an important

orbivirus ''Orbivirus'' is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the order ''Reovirales'' and the family ''Sedoreoviridae''. Unlike other reoviruses, orbiviruses are arboviruses. They can infect and replicate within a wide range of arthropod and verte ...

disease of

ruminant Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microb ...

s.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. Carpenter's field and laboratory research elucidated key details about how

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.EDENext Data Portal: ''Partner 12 – Institute of Animal Health (IAH)'', http://www.edenextdata.com/?q=content/iah, 22 June 2011.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. Carpenter's Entomology and Modelling Group is responsible for maintaining the UK ''

Culicoides ''Culicoides'' is a genus of biting midges in the family Ceratopogonidae. There are over 1000 species in the genus,Connelly, C. RBiting midges: ''Culicoides'' spp.Featured Creatures, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida IF ...

'' reference laboratory, a center of

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

excellence whose responsibilities include operating the Culicoides.NET open-access internet facility, http://www.culicoides.net, and coordinating and performing ''

'' population surveys in the UK and overseas. The group has identified new vectors of BTV that were previously thought to be of low

epidemiological Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

importance in transmission of the virus, resulting in better

risk assessment Risk assessment is a process for identifying hazards, potential (future) events which may negatively impact on individuals, assets, and/or the environment because of those hazards, their likelihood and consequences, and actions which can mitigate ...

for BTV and similar diseases in the northern

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

regions.

Personal

Carpenter is a native of London, England."Scientists are on the scent of a way to beat the midge", ''The Herald'', 2 August 1999 He holds a BSc degree from

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a member institution of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departmen ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, and completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

in 2001;LinkedIn Corporation: ''Simon Carpenter, Research Scientist at BBSRC'', http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/simon-carpenter/41/312/5a3, accessed 26 December 2011. his dissertation was on colonisation and dispersal of the Scottish

, ''

Culicoides impunctatus The highland midge (scientific name: ''Culicoides impunctatus''; ; ) is a species of biting midge found across the Palearctic (throughout Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, other regions of Northern Europe, Russia and Northern China) in upland and l ...

'' Goetghebuer.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 December 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Simon T. Entomologists from London Living people Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Year of birth missing (living people)