RALEIGH, N.C. (September 5, 2025) — A pesky parasite is impacting bees, threatening colonies all over the world.
Bees keep our crops pollinated and now their keepers are looking for a way to stop this killer. Honey bees are a key contributor in the state’s largest industry.
“Part of our goal really is shoring up food security, crop production in North Carolina,” said Kaira Wagoner, a research scientist at UNC Greensboro works in the UNCG Plant & Pollinator Lab located at Gateway Research Park in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Wagoner and her team are keeping the buzz about bees going from the honeycomb to the fume hoods. Wagoner’s passion is protecting one of the planet’s most prolific pollinators.
Researchers have pinpointed the parasite responsible for decimating bee colonies across the country.
The Varroa destructor, a small mite that’s living up to its name, is feeding on honey bees and amplifying deadly viruses, Wagoner said. “That’s really the No. 1 threat to honey bee health in the United States, and really globally, is this mite and the damage that it causes through spreading of those diseases,” she said. These sly creatures bury themselves in brood cells, the small hexagonal openings in the hive, where bee pupa are developing.
“She hides under that food and has a snorkel to breathe,” Wagoner said. “They cap over that cell so she can’t be detected as easily. Then the baby bee will eat up that food, releasing her from that brood food. She’ll come out and start feeding on the baby.”
Wagoner said some bees have a way of stopping the spread.
“The honey bees that can smell very well, that are very sensitive, can then detect these Varroa mites, these problems, and throw them out of the colony, preventing the colony from dying,” Wagoner said.
Wagoner developed a method to find these overly hygienic bees so they can be used for future breeding.
Her technology is called unhealthy brood odor or UBeeO. The pheromone-based spray mimics the scent of a Varroa mite. Once it’s on the frame, it’s placed back in the beehive. Two hours later the same frame is removed, examined and photographed to document the progress. The tests we saw had mixed results.
The first frames were mostly untouched, and this hive didn’t uncap any cells. A second set of bees removed a few, even pulling out some of the pupa to prevent potential spread and look for mites. The final test we watched had near perfect results. The bees checked every sprayed cell.
Wagoner says colonies that can identify at least 60% of the sprayed cells have fewer mites, less bacteria and lower fungal loads.
High-scoring colonies are also found to have fewer viruses, all qualities that make them good candidates for selective breeding, a process intended to strengthen bees.
Wagoner is exploring another discovery using NCInnovation funding from the state.
She found hygienic honey bees have a different microbiota from less-hygienic bees. Her team of researchers is now exploring that link. “We have potential to develop a product out of this, finding that could actually improve honey bee health,” Wagoner said. “We’re starting to get into that in the last few years and we have a lot of exciting research ahead of us, thanks to NCInnovation.”
Wagoner said beekeepers from all over the world are interested in her research and starting to use UBeeO for themselves to identify hygienic bees. She hopes her technology can promote more intentional breeding that can help bees be more resistant to parasites and save farmers money by eliminating the need for expensive miticides.