ABOUT JUANITA

I am Juanita Rodriguez, a research scientist at CSIRO’s Australian National Insect Collection.
​I am interested in uncovering the unknown diversity of wasps in Australia and the chemicals they produce.

WHAT DO YOU RESEARCH?

I work with a group of wasps commonly known as spider wasps. In the wasp life cycle, the female will hunt a spider, sting and paralyse it and then lay an egg on it. When the egg hatches the larva eats the spider alive, but paralised. The venom from these wasps is a cocktail of hundreds of molecules, some of which could be used to treat conditions like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

​There are hundreds of undiscovered species of spider wasp in Australia and with them hundreds of compounds are also unknown. I am interested in uncovering the biological, genomic and chemical diversity of such an interesting group.

HOW DO YOU RESEARCH?

This is a photo of me extracting and analysing molecular data from spider wasps.

GALLERY

WHY DO YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO?

I have been fascinated by insects for a long time. Uncovering their diversity in form, behaviour and chemistry is something I am excited to do every day of my life. I love my work because it is fun, engaging, rewarding and challenging.