One part of my PhD-thesis (2005-2008) was diagnosis of small hive beetles (SHB) in the field. Conventional methods were quite labor intensive. Therefore, I felt the need for a much simpler method suitable also for beekeepers with many hives. During mythesis research I was fortunate to have several fieldwork-trips to the Beltsville USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory in Maryland. I enjoyed these times very much. The whole bee-team was always very kind and helpful and after the first, short adjustment period treated me like a part of the team. In the summer of 2006 I had the idea for a method to diagnose SHB infestation levels in the field, which we further developed together with Jeff Pettis, the research leader of the Beltsville Bee Laboratory.
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