Shields LabInsect taste, smell and behavior · Towson University

Shields Lab / People

Vonnie D. C. Shields, Ph.D.

Professor of Biological Sciences at Towson University and principal investigator of the lab.

Portrait of Dr. Vonnie D. C. Shields
Photo: Towson University.

Research

Dr. Shields studies how insects use taste, smell and vision to find host plants and avoid harmful compounds, and how that sensory biology can be turned against insect pests. Her work follows the signal from the sensory cell to the behavior: the fine structure of taste and smell sensilla under the electron microscope, recordings from single taste cells and olfactory receptor cells, and feeding, choice and repellency assays.

Her earliest papers described the taste sensilla of caterpillars of the bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata, and, with John G. Hildebrand at the University of Arizona, the antennal sensilla and olfactory receptor cells of the sphinx moth Manduca sexta. At Towson her lab recorded from the taste cells of spongy moth caterpillars and found the first caterpillar taste cell known to respond to the insect repellents DEET, IR3535 and picaridin, and it has worked with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Rutgers University on lures, traps and repellents for spotted-wing drosophila and on the brown marmorated stink bug. The current projects, methyl benzoate analogs against spotted-wing drosophila and essential oils against the house cricket, are described under Research.

Career

B.S. and Ph.D., University of Regina, Saskatchewan, with part of her doctoral work at the University of Alberta. Professor of Biological Sciences in the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson University, where she has also served as associate dean of the college.

She has edited eight open-access books on insect biology and histology for IntechOpen and InTech (2017–2026), reviews for journals including PLOS ONE and PLOS Genetics, and judges student science fairs, most recently the Hybrid STEM Fair at Oxon Hill High School in January 2026.

Towson faculty profile · ORCID · IntechOpen · vshields@towson.edu

Students

Dr. Shields has mentored undergraduate, master’s and pre-college researchers in the lab; many have presented at national meetings and are co-authors on its papers, from the spongy moth taste studies of the 2000s and 2010s to the current cricket and spotted-wing drosophila projects. The lab’s current and earlier students are listed under People, and how to ask about joining under Join the lab.

Selected publications

  • Heinbockel TK (lab), Shields VDC (lab). 2026. Essential oils as biofriendly alternatives to synthetic insect repellents. Insects 17(6): 575. Review. doi:10.3390/insects17060575
  • Heinbockel TK (lab), Alzyoud RO (lab), Raheel S (lab), Shields VDC (lab). 2026. Selected essential oils act as repellents against the house cricket, Acheta domesticus. Insects 17(1): 106. doi:10.3390/insects17010106
  • Gale CC, Ferguson B, Rodriguez-Saona C, Shields VDC (lab), Zhang A. 2024. Evaluation of a push-pull strategy for spotted-wing drosophila management in highbush blueberry. Insects 15(1): 47. doi:10.3390/insects15010047
  • Sanford JL (lab), Barski SA (lab), Seen CM (lab), Dickens JC, Shields VDC (lab). 2014. Neurophysiological and behavioral responses of gypsy moth larvae to insect repellents: DEET, IR3535, and picaridin. PLoS ONE 9(6): e99924. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099924
  • Martin TL (lab), Shields VDC (lab). 2012. Detection of alkaloids and carbohydrates by taste receptor cells of the galea of gypsy moth larvae, Lymantria dispar (L.). Arthropod-Plant Interactions 6: 519–529. doi:10.1007/s11829-012-9209-0
  • Shields VDC (lab). 2009. Fine structure of the galeal styloconic sensilla of larval Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102(6): 1116–1125. doi:10.1603/008.102.0621
  • Shields VDC (lab), Hildebrand JG. 2001. Responses of a population of antennal olfactory receptor cells in the female moth Manduca sexta to plant-associated volatile organic compounds. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 186(12): 1135–1151. doi:10.1007/s003590000165
  • Shields VDC (lab), Hildebrand JG. 1999. Fine structure of antennal sensilla of the female sphinx moth, Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). I. Trichoid and basiconic sensilla. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77: 290–301. doi:10.1139/z98-204

All 56 publications, with filters by year, type and topic

Collaborators

  • Aijun Zhang, Ph.D.Research chemist, USDA Agricultural Research Service

    Stink bug volatiles; the blueberry push-pull trial.

  • Cody C. GaleFirst author, push-pull trial (2024)

    Co-author on the methyl benzoate analog posters.

  • Cesar Rodriguez-Saona, Ph.D.Rutgers University

    Blueberry push-pull trial.

  • Joseph C. Dickens, Ph.D.USDA

    Repellent study in caterpillars.

  • John G. Hildebrand, Ph.D.University of Arizona

    Dr. Shields’s earlier work on Manduca sexta.