{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Alexander Raikhel | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- filename only, i.e. without "File:" (or "Image:") prefix or enclosing brackets --> | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name above --> | birth_date = <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = | baptised = <!-- will not display if birth_date is entered --> | other_names = | citizenship = | education = {{plainlist|M.S in zoology, Leningrad University (1970) *Ph.D in biological sciences, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1975)<ref name="UCR">{{Cite web|url=http://genomics.ucr.edu/people/person-details.php?id=209 |title=Alexander Raikhel |website=University of California, Riverside |accessdate=2015-03-03|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150311215921/http://genomics.ucr.edu/people/person-details.php?id=209|archivedate=March 11, 2015}}</ref> }} | occupation = | years_active = | employer = | organization = National Academy of Sciences<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20017220.html|title=Alexander S. Raikhel|website=National Academy of Sciences|accessdate=2015-03-11}}</ref> | known_for = | notable_works = | title = {{plainlist|Distinguished professor of entomology *Editor of ''Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology''<ref name="UCR"/>}} | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | spouse = Natasha Raikhel<ref name="NCBI"/><ref name="honor"/> | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = {{plainlist|Entomological Society of America's Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology (2001)<ref name="NCBI"/> *National Institutes of Health MERIT Award (2002) }} | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | website = {{URL|https://sites.google.com/site/raikhellab/}} | footnotes = }} '''Alexander S. Raikhel''' is a distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Riverside, and an elected member of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
==Early life and education== Raikhel grew up in Siberia in the Soviet Union. Raikhel was the son of two medical professionals, and was inspired by the books he read to become a scientist. He was fixated on the stereotypical image of intellectuals wearing glasses, and at one point deliberately failed a vision test so that he could wear glasses. Raikhel applied to Leningrad State University in 1965, but was delayed by the quota system due to his Jewish heritage.<ref name="NCBI">{{Cite journal|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|date=December 28, 2010|volume=107|issue=52|doi=10.1073/pnas.1018340108| pmc=3012477 |title=Profile of Alexander S. Raikhel|first=Tinsley H.|last=Davis|pages=22381–22383|pmid=21173217|bibcode=2010PNAS..10722381D|doi-access=free}}</ref> As a result, he cleaned pens at Leningrad Zoo and took night courses to further his education, eventually earning his master's degree in 1970. Again delayed by the quota system for Jews, Raikhel worked for Yu. S. Balashov at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences during his studies;{{clarify|If he was delayed, what was he studying?|date=March 2015}} Raikhel defended his thesis about blood-feeding organisms in 1975.<ref name="NCBI"/>
==Career== Raikhel's travels to study ticks in warmer climates influenced him and his wife, fellow Soviet scientist Natasha Raikhel, to look for a livelihood outside the USSR. With the help of visiting University of Georgia professor Jerry Paulin, the couple emigrated to the United States in 1979 as political refugees.<ref name="NCBI"/><ref name="honor"/> Under Arden O. Lea at the University of Georgia, Raikhel switched from studying ticks to mosquitoes, which led him to study vector biology. Raikhel's work focused on identifying the chemical precursors to reproduction (vitellogenesis) in ''Drosophila'', ''Aedes aegypti'', and ''Culex quinquefasciatus''. His lab discovered that the female mosquito, after having a blood meal, begins producing eggs.<ref name="NCBI"/><ref name="honor"/><ref name="ESA">{{Cite web|title=Alexander S. Raikhel, ESA Fellow (2009)|date=August 2009|url=http://www.entsoc.org/fellows/alexander-s-raikhel-esa-fellow-2009|website=Entomological Society of America}}</ref> Raikhel began work at Michigan State University in 1986 as an associate professor of entomology where he received the university's Distinguished Faculty Award.<ref name="NCBI"/> While there, his work focused on the possibility of breeding mosquitoes to internally eliminate diseases they typically pass on to the animals they feed on.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Making a New Mosquito Will tinkering make mosquitoes better or worse?|author1-first=Eric|author1-last=Weeks|author2-first=Michael|author2-last=D'Antonio|date=May 2001|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2001/may/featmosquito|journal=Discover}}</ref> In January 2002, Raikhel moved from Michigan to the University of California, Riverside, in Southern California.<ref name="honor"/> That year, Raikhel was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and also awarded a MERIT award, a ten-year {{US$|10000000|2002}} grant to continue his mosquito research by the National Institutes of Health.<ref name="UCR"/><ref name="honor"/> In 2009 Raikhel was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his "groundbreaking contributions to understanding mosquito physiology".<ref name="honor">{{cite web|title=UC Riverside Professor Receives Top Scientific Honor|first=Iqbal|last=Pittalwala|date=April 28, 2009|url=http://newsroom.ucr.edu/2080}}</ref> The same year he was named a fellow of the Entomological Society of America. Raikhel founded and currently leads UCR's Center for Disease Vector Research.<ref name="ESA"/> Raikhel's recent research is on identifying how to manipulate the juvenile hormones of female mosquitos to impair their ability to reproduce healthy offspring, thus reducing vectors for yellow fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya.<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 15, 2012|title=Mosquito population bit by birth control|newspaper=UCR Highlander|url=http://www.highlandernews.org/3444/mosquito-population-bit-by-birth-control/|first=Kevin|last=Keckeisen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Researchers Discover Natural Insect Growth Regulators in Plants|date=January 28, 2015|journal=Entomology Today|url=http://entomologytoday.org/2015/01/28/researchers-discover-natural-insect-growth-regulators-in-plants/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Discovery by UC Riverside Entomologists Could Shrink Dengue-spreading Mosquito Population|date=December 2, 2010|url=http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2010120212000047.html|website=sciencenewsline.com|access-date=March 11, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402125849/http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2010120212000047.html|archive-date=April 2, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://ucanr.edu/Find_People/Academic_Directory/?facultyid=1855 profile at UCR] {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raikhel, Alexander}} Category:21st-century Russian biologists Category:Living people Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni Category:University of California, Riverside faculty Category:Year of birth missing (living people)