The research interests of the Tissue Culture Study concern the development of cell lines from forest insects, studying insect control agents in vitro, determining the nutritional requirements of healthy and infected cells, and developing low cost tissue culture media for their large scale propagation. With recent advances in biotechnology, insect cell cultures are routinely employed in a wide variety of biomedical studies, and they are essential for the investigation and mass production of insect pathogenic viruses for use in an integrated pest management program.

Since 1969, the Tissue Culture Study has developed over 100 continuous cell lines, representing 20% of insect cell lines in existence, from tissues of the eastern spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana), western spruce budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis), forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria), tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta), white-marked tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma), red-headed pine sawfly (Neodiprion lecontei) and the white pine weevel (Pissodes strobi). Cell lines from the tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris) are currently being developed. These cell lines represent five tissues of origin - neonate larvae, embryos, ovaries, hemocytes, and midgut and four Orders, namely Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Hemiptera. Presently, our cell lines are being used by 41 researchers in 8 Canadian provinces, 36 researchers in 19 US states and 28 researchers in 10 countries worldwide.