Our lab seeks to uncover how genetic changes shape behavior and how insects can reprogram plant development.
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Publications
Research Summary
Insect-Plant Interactions, Genetics and Genomics, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cell Biology, Neuroscience, Plant Biology, Behavioral Genetics
Plants, Aphids, Gall-forming insects
The Stern Lab's research centers on two core questions.
How do insects hijack plant development to induce galls? Many gall-forming insects can trigger plants to build novel structures—galls—that provide food and shelter. The Stern lab helped discover a large, rapidly evolving family of aphid genes—bicycle genes—that produce secreted BICYCLE proteins, which are associated with gall development.
The lab is focused on the mechanism and function of BICYCLE proteins, specifically working to uncover where they go inside plant tissues, how they alter plant cell biology, and which plant molecules they target. Understanding these interactions can illuminate fundamental principles of host manipulation and molecular evolution and may help reveal vulnerabilities that could someday inform more precise strategies to control sap-feeding crop pests.
Principal Investigator
Investigator
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
David Stern, Ph.D., is an Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. Stern joined the Institute in February 2026 after more than a decade at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, where he served as a Senior Group Leader since 2011 and built a research program spanning genetics, evolution, neuroscience, and field-based systems.
Stern investigates how insects hijack plant development to induce plant galls. The Stern lab has discovered that aphids inject a novel family of BICYCLE proteins that appear to contribute to gall development. The team is studying many aspects of this problem, with a focus on how BICYCLE proteins alter plant cell biology. He's investigating where they go in plant cells, what they do, and what they interact with. Insights from this work could one day help inform more precise strategies for controlling crop pests.
Galls are striking examples of one organism reprogramming another. Work from the Stern lab and collaborators has linked gall development to a large family of aphid genes that produce secreted BICYCLE proteins, opening a path to test, molecule by molecule, how insects redirect plant development.
A 3D microscopy image of an aphid inside a plant gall—an unusual growth the insect triggers as it manipulates plant tissue.
Aphids are sometimes called the “mosquitoes of the plant world.” They don’t just feed on plants, they also spread disease. Stern's findings are providing new insights to improving or creating next generation pest control strategies that are precise, effective, and safe.
Microscope view of an aphid stylet (red) threading through plant tissue—an essential tool sap-feeding insects use to reach their food source.
BICYCLE proteins are essential for aphid survival. Because the proteins are produced in salivary glands and injected into plants, those glands may be an Achilles’ heel for sap-sucking crop pests worldwide.
A closer look at the structures involved in feeding and gall formation.
News
27 February 2026
After more than a decade at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus, David Stern, Ph.D., moved his research program to the Stowers Institute. He arrived in early February and is now exploring how sap-feeding insects steer plant growth, the role of newly discovered proteins, and potential paths to next-gen pest control.
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News
26 February 2026
Discovery often starts with the unexpected, and Shane Miller, the Stowers Institute's Director of Research Organisms, believes turning to nature is how we can turn big questions into breakthroughs.
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Press Release
30 September 2025
David Stern, Ph.D., brings groundbreaking research on insect–plant interactions for next-generation pest control to the Institute.
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A novel family of secreted insect proteins linked to plant gall development
Korgaonkar A, Han C, Lemire A, Siwanowicz I, Bennouna D, Kopec R., Andolfatto P., Shigenobu S, Stern D.; Current Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.104
The genetic causes of convergent evolution
Stern D L.; Nature Reviews Genetics (2013). DOI: 10.1038/nrg3483
Low affinity binding site clusters confer hox specificity and regulatory robustness
Crocker J, Abe N, Rinaldi L, McGregor A P, Frankel N, Wang S, Alsawadi A, Valenti P, Plaza S, Payre F, Mann R S, Stern D L.; Cell (2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.11.041
Natural courtship song variation caused by an intronic retroelement in an ion channel gene
Ding Y, Berrocal A, Morita T, Longden K D, Stern D L.; Nature (2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature19093
Dense and pleiotropic regulatory information in a developmental enhancer
Fuqua T, Jordan J, van Breugel M E, Halavatyi A, Tischer C, Polidoro P, Abe N, Tsai A, Mann R S, Stern D L, Crocker J.; Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2816-5
Is genetic evolution predictable?
Stern D L, Orgogozo V.; Science (2009). DOI: 10.1126/science.1158997
