Steven joined the Chemical Ecology research group as a research fellow within the Natural Resources Institute in 2017. Since then, he has worked on numerous interdisciplinary projects investigating semiochemicals for use in integrated pest management and improving pollination services. Recently Steven has also moved into biopesticide research, such as entomopathogenic fungi, using his natural product expertise to identify and isolate bioactive metabolites. All areas of his research are focused on attempting to reduce reliance on traditional agrochemical interventions and thus make agriculture more sustainable.

This interest was informed by his experience working  as a Natural Product Chemist for 5 years at the small biotech firm Hypha Discovery (https://www.hyphadiscovery.com/), where he was responsible for isolating novel bioactive metabolites from bacterial and fungal strains as part of a drug discovery methodology. 

Over the years Steven has worked closely with the Royal Society of Chemistry and currently sits on both the Kent local section and the agriculture special interest group committees, organising events and STEM outreach activities.

Steven started his career when he received his BSc in Chemistry with mathematics from Keele University in 2007. He followed this by working as an analytical chemist at both Clariant and Sanofi Aventis and was responsible for the quality control analysis for fine pharmaceuticals produced on site.

Steven subsequently started working on utilising small molecule inhibitors of Spliceosomal protein Snu114 at the University of Manchester, under Dr David Berrisford, for which he was received a PhD in biochemistry. 

• James, K., Springate, S., Harte, S.J., Farman, D., Colgan, R. and Arnold, S.E. (2024) Buzzing benefits: how multi-species pollination boosts strawberry yield, quality, and nutritional value. Journal of Pollination Ecology, 37(20), pp.326-340. https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2024)788

• Harte, S.J., Bray, D., Nash-Woolley, V., Stevenson, P., and Fernández-Grandon, M.G. (2024) Antagonistic and additive effect when combining biopesticides against the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. Scientific Reports. 14(1), pp. 6029 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-56599-w

• Hardy, H., Harte, S.J., Hopkins, R., Mnyone, L. and Hawkes, F. (2023) The influence of manure-based organic fertilisers on the oviposition behaviour of Anopheles arabiensis. Acta Tropica, 244:106954, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.106954

• Sanchez-Gomez, T., Harte, S.J., Zamora, P., Matéo, B., Julio, J.D., Baudilio, H., Niño-Sánchez, J. and Martín-García, J. (2023) Nematicidal effect of Beauveria species and the mycotoxin beauvericin against pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 6:1229456, pp. 67-77. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1229456

• Tungadi, T.D., Shaw, B., Powell, G., Hall, D.R., Bray, D.P., Harte, S.J., Farman, D.I., Wijnen, H. and Fountain, M.T., (2022). Live drosophila melanogaster larvae deter oviposition by drosophila suzukii. Insects, 13(8), pp. 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13080688

• Bray, D.P., Hall, D.R., Harte, S.J., Farman, D.I., Vankosky M.A. and Mori B.A., (2022). Components of the Female Sex Pheromone of the Newly-Described Canola Flower Midge, Contarinia brassicola. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 48, pp. 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-022-01369-z 

• Hall, D.R., Harte, S.J., Bray, D.P., Farman, D.I., James, R., Silva, C.X. and Fountain, M.T., (2021). Hero Turned Villain: Identification of Components of the Sex Pheromone of the Tomato Bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis. Journal of Chemical Ecology, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01270-1

• Hall, D.R., Harte, S.J., Farman, D.I., Ero, M. and Pokana, A., (2021). Identification of Components of the Aggregation Pheromone of the Guam Strain of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, and Determination of Stereochemistry. Journal of chemical ecology, 48, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01329-z

• Fernández-Grandon, G.M., Harte, S.J., Ewany, J., Bray, D. and Stevenson, P.C., (2020). Additive effect of botanical insecticide and entomopathogenic fungi on pest mortality and the behavioral response of its natural enemy. Plants, 9(2), pp. 173. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9020173

Steven is part of the Chemical Ecology group, and a lot of his work is focused in this research area, investigating chemical messages between organisms. This has involved numerous projects on insect pheromones or host attractants, specifically for pest insects where these attractants can be used as lures for insect traps as part of pest monitoring or trapping strategies. This has included many pests both domestic and international such as Spotted Wing Drosophila, Vine Weevil, Rhinoceros Beetle, Tomato Bug and many more.

The second main aspect of Steven’s work at NRI is investigating innovative biopesticides against persistent crop pests, such as his work on the Fall Army Worm, an invasive pest in Africa and south-west Asia. Steven and the team tested the efficacy of combining a botanical insecticide and an entomopathogenic fungi against this pest which helps mitigate the drawbacks of these biopesticide when used in isolation.

Both of these research aspects play a role in integrated pest management strategies which is an important aspect of moving away from traditional synthetic chemical interventions and contributes to the NRI’s impact within sustainable agricultural intensification.

Postgraduate:

• Agriculture for Sustainable Development, MSc.
• Biotechnology, MSc.
• Food Innovation, MSc.
• Food Safety and Quality Management, MSc.
• Global Environmental Change, MSc.

Undergraduate:

• Biology, BSc.
• Biomedical Science, BSc.
• Chemistry, BSc.
• Forensic Science, BSc.
• Forensics and Criminology, BSc.
• Human Health, BSc.
• Pharmaceutical Sciences, BSc.

FLYTHRIVE: Fly-led Yield Thriving in Horticulture with Integrated Vision and Ecology (PI, Innovate UK)

FLYTHRIVE is a collaborative project between Olombria, NIAB and NRI aimed to tackle rising insect pest infestations in common berry crops using advanced AI, natural lures and selected species of aphidophagous hoverflies to monitor the crop and trigger earlier intervention continuously.

Horticulture: Smart trap for improved early detection of vine weevil to enable successful application of integrated pest management (PI, BBSRC)

Vine weevils are a damaging pest for the both the horticulture and plant ornamental sectors. While population control is achieved through the application of nematodes this process is hindered by poor monitoring solutions. This limitation results in both unneeded applications and late applications of nematodes.

In collaboration with Harper Adams University, we have developed a “smart trap” solution to vine weevil monitoring. This trap has motion activated remote camera system with a semiochemical lure and a machine learning based algorithm for weevil detection. 

Environmentally Benign Combination Biopesticides: Transforming Pest Control in Chinese and UK agriculture (Co-I, Innovate UK). 

Due to issues with environmental contamination, pesticide resistance and non-target mortality the use of traditional pesticides worldwide has seen a reduction. In many cases these pesticides have been replaced with biopesticides. Botanical pesticides, such as pyrethrum, are known to be less toxic than their synthetic equivalents but degrade in UV light and thus offer shorter protection. Entomopathogenic Fungi is a fungus that infects insects and offers long term protection in the field but there is a lag time before they become effective.

To mitigate these issues, we combined both botanical insecticides and entomopathogenic fungi into one pest control solution to mitigate the drawbacks of using each individually (Harte et al, 2024).

Exploitation of interspecific signals to deter oviposition by spotted-wing drosophila (Co-I, BBSRC-IPA)

The invasive insect pest, spotted-wing drosophila (SWD) lays its eggs in soft fruit which hatch into larvae, feed on the fruit, causing fruit collapse and significant economic losses worldwide. Thus far SWD has evaded integrated pest management strategies and current control methods rely primarily on insecticide applications, which are not sustainable long-term solutions.  In this project we showed that D. suzukii were deterred from laying eggs on artificial media exposed to egg laying Drosophila melanogaster, its sister species. This deterrent effect would prove invaluable for soft fruit growers if it could be replicated without the presence of the sister species. Through an exhaustive search we deduced that this signal did not appear to be solely chemical in nature and likely requires live microorganisms (Tungadi et al., 2022).

PhD students:

• Deanna Mills (1^st Supervisor)
• Safinatu Ameen (1^st Supervisor)
• Asoo Yaji (2^nd Supervisor)
• Cedric Maforimbo (2^nd Supervisor)
• Francesca Amanesih (3^rd Supervisor)

Completed:

• Louise Malmgren (3^rd Supervisor)

• Postdoctoral Researcher
• Lecturer
• Co-Chair of the Faculty of engineering and Sciences
• Early career researcher representative for the NRI

• MRSC (Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry)

• MSCI (Member of the Society of Chemical Industry)

• MRES (Member of the Royal Entomological Society)

• FHEA (Fellow of the Higher Education Authority)