At the invitation of Professor Yang Zixiang of the “Insect Molecular Ecology and Evolution” research group of the Institute of Resources Insects, Professor Johan Billen from the School of Biology of the University of Leuven, Belgium, visited the institute for academic exchange from September 2nd to 9th, 2019. During his visit, Professor Billen made three academic reports entitled “Tissue preparation of insect tissue for microscopy”、“Diversity and role of exocrine glands in social insects” and “Role of exocrine glands in social insect defence”, covering the sectioning and microscopic observation of insect tissues, the diversity of social insect exocrine glands, and the roles and functions of insect exocrine glands and other key contents.
After the meeting, Professor Billen carried out the practical operation and demonstrations on the preparation and analysis methods of Specimen of insect tissue section, and also discussed the potential cooperation directions with us such as the study on exocrine glands of resource insects. More than 30 scientific and technical personnel and graduate students from Institute of Resources Insects attended the seminar and the seminar on making insect tissue section specimens respectively.
Professor Billen, who has long been engaged in morphological, chemical communication and taxonomic research of social insects, including comparative morphology of typical social insects such as wasps, ants and aphids, structure and function of exocrine glands, chemical ecology of volatile components, chemical communication and response mechanism among populations, has also been the editor of Insectes Sociaux and been the editorial board member of Arthropod Structure and Development, Int. Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology, Micron and other journals. He enjoys high academic attainments in the field of social entomology and has published more than 260 research papers in international journals. (Yang Ying, Institute of Resources Insects)
