I am interested in the development of fungi for the control of invertebrate pests of economic and medical importance (e.g. insects, mites, ticks). My research covers several areas including: fungal infection processes, the production, formulation and application of inoculum, risk assessment (RAFBCA) and the development of integrated pest management strategies. Current projects include the development of Metarhizium anisopliae as a biological control agent in horticulture.

Selected Publications

Skrobek, A. Boss, D. Défago, G., Butt, T.M. & Maurhofer, M. 2006. Evaluation of different biological test systems to assess the toxicity of metabolites from fungal biocontrol agents. Toxicology Letters 161: 43-52

Butt, T.M., Wang, C-S., Shah, F.A. & Hall, R. 2006. Degeneration of entomogenous fungi. In: An ecological and societal approach to biological control (eds Eilenberg, J & Hokkanen, H. M. T) Kluwer, Chapter 10 pp 213- 226.

Wang, C-S, Typas, M. & Butt, T.M. 2005. Phylogenetic and exon-intron structure analysis of fungal subtilisins: support for a mixed model of intron evolution.  Journal of Molecular Evolution. 60: 238 –246

Wang, C-S, Butt, T.M. & St Leger, R.J. 2005. Colony sectorization of Metarhizium anisopliae is a sign of aging. Microbiology 151: 3223-3236

Shah, F. A. & Butt, T. M. 2005 Influence of nutrition on the production and physiology of sectors produced by the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae FEMS Microbiology 250: 201 –207

Skrobek, A. & Butt, T.M. 2005. Toxicity testing of destruxins and crude extracts from the insect-pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 251: 23 –28  7.

Shah, F. A., Wang, C-S, & Butt, T. M. 2005. Nutrition influences growth and virulence of the insect-pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae FEMS Microbiology Letters 251: 259-266

Wang, C., Fan, M., Li, Z & Butt, T. M. 2004. Molecular monitoring and evaluation of the application of the insect-pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana in southeast China. Journal of Applied Microbiology 96: 861–870

Wang C. S., Skrobek, A. & Butt, T. M. 2004. Investigation on the destruxin production of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. J. Invertebr. Pathol. 85: 168-174.

Dudley, E., Wang, C-S, Skrobek, A. Newton, R.P., & Butt, T. M. 2004.  Mass spectrometric studies on the intrinsic stability of destruxin E from Metarhizium anisopliae, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrometry 18: 2577–2586

Seger, C., Sturm, S., Stuppner, H., Butt, T.M., & Strasser , H. 2004. Combination of a new sample preparation strategy and an accelerated high-performance liquid chromatography assay with photodiode array and mass spectrometric detection for the determination of destruxins from Metarhizium anisopliae culture filtrates. Journal of Chromatography A. 1061: 35–43