Dr Jackson joined the University as a PhD student, working to identify chemical compounds that had the potential to act as rat lures. Dr Jackson, along with the University’s Associate Professor Wayne Linklater and Dr Rob Keyzers, identified five chemical compounds that are attractive to rats. Since then, Dr Jackson and his team have been working with Viclink, the University’s commercialisation arm, to turn those compounds into viable commercial products. The KiwiNet funding, along with funding received from the Department of Conservation in 2017, will help with these efforts.
“Rats are a significant global pest problem,” Dr Jackson says. “They are a threat to conservation, and they also cause severe problems in agriculture, food storage and processing, and human and animal health.”
There are many traditional rat lures currently available on the market, but nearly all are perishable foods. These foods can either spoil quickly or be eaten by other animals, meaning the traps are only effective for a few days, Dr Jackson says.
Dr Jackson and his team are using chemical compounds to create long-life lures that specifically attract rats.
“We started this project by looking for compounds in foods. We know foods like peanut butter are attractive to rats, so it seemed a natural place to start our search,” Dr Jackson says. “We were able to identify five compounds present in certain foods that are attractive to rats.”
Dr Jackson and his team then mixed these five compounds together into different combinations, eventually discovering 17 combinations that were as attractive to rats as peanut butter.
They are now working to put these compound combinations into easy-to-use pest control products. These products will emit the compounds in a controlled and sustained manner over time, with some products theoretically lasting for up to six months.
“These lures will be more effective than traditional perishable food lures,” Dr Jackson says. “For example, current traps could be left in remote areas for up to six months without the need for lure replenishment. The cost saving in terms of labour would be enormous.”
After discovering the five compounds, Dr Jackson and his team began researching how best to put them into a commercial product.
“We began by looking at existing products on the market,” Dr Jackson says. “There are many insect lures that last months that are currently available, some of which use spray cans and some that use thermoplastic devices or rubber septa. These devices have longevity, can release their compounds in a sustained manner over time, and have a consistent odour over time – all qualities we want in our lures.”
Their biggest challenge, says Dr Jackson, was finding a way to get the most attractive compounds into a device and then make sure the compound was released by the device at a consistent rate.
“We discovered that the lowest concentration of our compounds were the most attractive to the rats,” Dr Jackson says. “We think the rats are very sensitive to these specific compounds, so any device that uses them needs to release small amounts of the compound over time.”
So far Dr Jackson and his team have created three prototype products. One product uses an emulsion (similar to toothpaste) which is attractive for two to three weeks. Their second product diffuses the compound through a membrane and lasts for about a month. Their third product, which is currently undergoing field testing, diffuses the compound through a glass vial and membrane and has the potential to last for up to six months.
Although the process of putting their compounds into lures has been very complex, Dr Jackson says they hope to have a beta product available by April next year, and a suite of products available within the two years after that.
“Once we develop our product and address any remaining issues, we will have a suite of generic rodent lures that could be used for rodent management around the world,” Dr Jackson says.