Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit

Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit
Country United States of America
Branch United States Army
TypeMedical R&D Command
RoleMilitary medical research and development
Part ofU.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command
Garrison/HQUS Army Garrison Forest Glen
Mottos"Know the Vector, Know the Threat"

The Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU) was a United States Army organization that conducted laboratory and field research on the systematics of medically important arthropods in support of epidemiological investigations and disease prevention and control strategies of importance to the military. Research was carried out worldwide, within geographic or faunistic restrictions of the material available and military requirements. Research efforts focused on the development of accurate and reliable means of identifying vectors of arbopathogens of humans.

The WRBU also performed arthropod collections management for the Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) mosquito collection and maintains a molecular entomology laboratory within the Smithsonian Museum Support Center for joint use of WRBU and NMNH personnel.

History

Army entomologists began formal collaborations with Smithsonian Institution entomologists as early as 1961. The WRBU's unit lineage began with the stand up of the Army Mosquito Project (AMP) in 1964. In 1966, the AMP's mission was refocused on the vectorborne disease threat facing troops deployed to southeast Asia for the Vietnam War and the unit was reorganized as the Southeast Asia Mosquito Project (SEAMP). After the war in southeast Asia wound down, SEAMP was reorganized in 1974 as the Medical Entomology Project (MEP) to encompass a broader long-term mission. In 1981, the MEP was reorganized as the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, and the unit has retained that identity through subsequent moves and restructurings. The name commemorates U.S. Army physician Major Walter Reed who in 1901 led the team that established that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes.

As of 2017, the WRBU operated under the direction of the Department of Entomology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), with laboratories and offices in the Smithsonian Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland. Collaborative partners in addition to the WRAIR included the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the NMNH, and the Armed Forces Pest Management Board.

The U.S. Army elected to close the WRBU in March 2025.

Specimen collection

The WRBU assisted in conserving the NMNH Mosquito Collection, the largest mosquito collection in the world, with over 1.5 million specimens. The WRBU maintained and secured specimens, handled transactions including loans of material, improved the collection, provided assistance to Department of Entomology personnel, Smithsonian Institution Research Associates, visiting scientists, and mosquito researchers in locating and examining specimens in the collection.

Primary research projects

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pollie L.M. Rueda and Rick Wilkerson (2007). “Know The Vector, Know The Threat”, accessed Feb. 7, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit Archived 2011-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 17 Oct 2017.
  3. 1 2 O.S. Flint, Jr., A.S. Menke, F.C. Thompson & R.A. Ward (1976). The United States National Entomological Collections. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 25–26;.
  4. ↑ Martha M. Hamilton. "The PEST in 'Pestilence'", The Washington Post, June 21, 1998, accessed Feb. 7, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Closure of the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit". Gulf South Vector. 28 October 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2026.