Michael E. Sparks (0000-0001-6251-8559)

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Biography

Dr. Sparks is a Computational Biologist with the USDA-ARS Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, USA. He performs biological sequence analysis of urban and agricultural insect pests, with an interest in gene families implicated in xenobiotic detoxification. He also studies various entomopathogenic and/or insecticidal microbial agents with high potential for insect biocontrol, as well as certain insect-vectored, plant-pathogenic microbes. In addition, he has published on such other topics as plant sequence analysis, ruminant metagenomics, epidemiology & biostatistics, and artificial intelligence/ machine learning.

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USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center: Beltsville, MD, US

Computational Biologist (Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory)

Employment

Michael E. Sparks

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-8559

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Biography

Activities

Employment (1)

USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center: Beltsville, MD, US

Education and qualifications (2)

Iowa State University: Ames, IA, US

University of Kentucky: Lexington, KY, US

Works (47)

Transcriptomic resources for Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister), a widespread invasive pest of Brassicales

A replicated, whole-insect transcriptomic dataset for Nezara viridula (southern green stink bug) spanning developmental stadia and sexes

Serratia montpellierensis sp. nov., isolated from laboratory reared parasitic wasps Psyttalia lounsburyii Silvestri and Psyttalia ponerophaga Silvestri (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Genomic sequencing of fourteen Bacillus thuringiensis isolates: insights into geographic variation and phylogenetic implications

Lymantria dispar iflavirus 1 RNA comprises a large proportion of RNA in adult L. dispar moths

Ancient origin and conserved gene function in terpene pheromone and defense evolution of stink bugs and hemipteran insects

Analyses of adult transcriptomes from four different populations of the spongy moth, Lymantria dispar L., from China and the USA

Trypanosomes associated in the alimentary canal of Bagrada hilaris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Novel associations in antibiosis stemming from an insect pupal cell

Sequencing, assembly and annotation of the whole-insect genome of Lymantria dispar dispar, the European gypsy moth

Chromobacterium paludis sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from a Chesapeake Bay marsh

Transcriptome sequencing of the striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum (F.), reveals numerous sex-specific transcripts and xenobiotic detoxification genes

Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), genome: putative underpinnings of polyphagy, insecticide resistance potential and biology of a top worldwide pest

Expansion of LINEs and species-specific DNA repeats drives genome expansion in Asian gypsy moths

Chromobacterium phragmitis sp. nov., isolated from estuarine marshes

Differential gene expression in red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) larval and pupal stages

De novo formation of an aggregation pheromone precursor by an isoprenyl diphosphate synthase-related terpene synthase in the harlequin bug

Semi-Automated Visualization and ANalysis of Trends: A “SAVANT” for facilitating antimicrobial stewardship using antistaphylococcal resistance and consumption as a prototype

Draft genome sequence of the New Jersey aster yellows strain of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’

Arthropod genomics research in the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service: applications of RNA interference and CRISPR gene editing technologies in pest control

Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes of geographic variants of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, reveals a previously undescribed genotypic entity

Chromobacterium sphagni sp. nov., an insecticidal bacterium isolated from sphagnum bogs

A transcriptome survey spanning life stages and sexes of the harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica

The genome of the insecticidal Chromobacterium subtsugae PRAA4-1 and its comparison with that of Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472

Anatomic, geographic, and taxon-specific relative risks of carbapenem resistance in the health care system of the U.S. Department of Defense

Correlating cleaning thoroughness with effectiveness and briefly intervening to affect cleaning outcomes: how clean is cleaned?

Relations of β-Lactam consumption, methicillin susceptibility and geographical origin with therapeutically problematic, vancomycin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus isolates in the Military Health System

The burden and relative risk of carbapenem-resistant pathogens and correlations with antibiotic usage in a national managed care system

Relationships among cleaning, environmental DNA, and healthcare-associated infections in a new evidence-based design hospital

Transcriptome of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

A single vertebrate DNA virus protein disarms invertebrate immunity to RNA virus infection

Complete genome sequence of a novel iflavirus from the transcriptome of Halyomorpha halys, the brown marmorated stink bug

Transcriptome of the Lymantria dispar (gypsy moth) larval midgut in response to infection by Bacillus thuringiensis

Determination and analysis of the genome sequence of Spodoptera littoralis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus

Characterization of the rumen microbiota of pre-ruminant calves using metagenomic tools

The Lymantria dispar IPLB-Ld652Y cell line transcriptome comprises diverse virus-associated transcripts

A phylogenetic and functional overview of the rumen microbiota

Detection of functional shifts in the rumen microbiota in response to propionate intake in cattle

Towards a more complete metagenomics toolkit

MaizeGDB becomes 'sequence-centric'

MetWAMer: eukaryotic translation initiation site prediction

Computational annotation of eukaryotic gene structures: algorithms development and software systems

Markov model variants for appraisal of coding potential in plant DNA

A global assembly of cotton ESTs

Engineering a software tool for gene structure prediction in higher organisms

Incorporation of splice site probability models for non-canonical introns improves gene structure prediction in plants

Bioinformatics: the interpretation of genomic information