Entomological Society of Canada – Gold Medal

2020 Gold Medal

Michel Cusson

Dr Michel Cusson is the 2020 recipient of the Entomological Society of Canada’s Gold Medal. This award, now in its 58^th year, recognizes outstanding achievement in Canadian entomology.

Dr Cusson is a researcher with the Canadian Forest Service who has earned an impressive international reputation for his significant research contributions in an exceptionally broad range of subject areas.

Dr Cusson completed an MSc in pest management, and while he did not remain in the field his training ensured that his subsequent research was based in a solid understanding of insect behaviour and ecology.

As a PhD student Dr Cusson was the first to demonstrate that juvenile hormone (JH) played a significant role in pheromone production and sexual maturation of migratory moths. One paper in Science, that has received >120 citations provided the clearest experimental evidence of the eco-physiological underpinnings for the “oogenesis flight syndrome” that was first proposed by Johnson more than 50 years ago. Early in his career, Dr Cusson continued to work on the ecophysiology of migratory lepidopterans to address a number of original ideas using the true armyworm, the black army cutworm and the spruce budworm as model systems, as they exhibit very different migratory strategies.

These projects led Dr Cusson to delve into different aspects of the regulation and biosynthesis of JH from both basic and applied perspectives, in collaboration with colleagues from many countries including Britain, Belgium, Canada, France and the United States. This resulted in a body of work that made significant contributions to our understanding of the role of different neuropeptides, such as allatostatin and allatotropin, and the prenyltransferases in a number of different insect species. More recently, Dr Cusson has moved into the area of molecular biology and genomics to address different biological processes in several important forest pests. Again, Dr Cusson has developed a wide net of collaborators with whom to work on this cutting edge research.

Dr Cusson also developed a very different and innovative research programme studying polydnaviruses that are transmitted by female parasitoids during oviposition and modify host development to the benefit of the female’s developing progeny. Over the years his work has addressed subjects as varied as the underlying physiological means by which hosts are manipulated to evolutional questions relating to the origin of these viruses.

The impressive number of publications in the primary international literature in the different areas described above (with an H factor over 30), his awards and the most impressive level of funding certainly reflect the quality of Dr Cusson’s research. Furthermore, the interest that the broader scientific community has for Dr Cusson’s research is clearly evidenced by the large number of invitations to write book chapters, speak at national and international conferences, give departmental seminars, and serve as referee for journals and granting agencies.

Dr Cusson is an adjunct professor at Laval University and his research programme has provided an excellent environment for both undergraduate and graduate training (eight MSc and six PhD students supervised). In addition, he has also hosted a number of national and international postdoctoral fellows.

Dr Cusson has been very active in different societies at the provincial, national and international levels. He has served as President of the Entomological Society of Canada and as both Associate Editor and Division Editor of The Canadian Entomologist. He has also served as President of the Entomological Society of Quebec and has been actively involved in organising several of their annual meetings, including one joint meeting with the Entomological Society of Canada.