Product/Service Development

Optical information, temperature gradients, trace gases and volatile odors are key sensory inputs for mosquitoes. To mitigate the transmission of malaria, Szabolcs Marka of Columbia University in the U.S. will research how optical irradiation might be used to physically disrupt mosquitoes' sensory systems such that they can't find human hosts. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that insects are repelled or change their flight behavior in response to different infrared light gradients.

Suzanne Fleiszig of the University of California, Berkeley will attempt to decipher the molecular mechanisms that maintain broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity of the healthy eye, which could lead to innovative strategies to combat infectious disease in general.

By using strips of mosquito netting around houses to turn the homes into mosquito traps, Jacques Derek Charlwood of Denmarks DBL Center for Health Research and Development, in conjunction with the INS of Mozambique, hopes to develop a simple new technique to reduce malaria transmission.

Peter Lubega Yiga of AdhocWorks Foundation in South Africa will test the efficacy of small household containers in which a non-toxic formulation is mixed with water, releasing carbon dioxide and alcohol vapors as a way to repel mosquitos. The investigators will test the device in independent field trials to optimize its usefulness as an alternative to insecticides.

Annette Habluetzel of the University of Camerino in Italy seeks to develop a micropellet food for mosquito larvae made from non-toxic, organic compounds. These pellets, when ingested by the transparent larvae are activated by sunlight and kill the larvae, leaving other animals unharmed.

Steven Maranz of Weill Medical College in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that providing children high levels of flavanols, compounds found in chocolate, green tea, cola and shea nuts, deprives malaria parasites of lipids needed to survive, keeping parasite infection at levels low enough to elicit a strong immune response that builds lifelong immunity.

Michael Riehle of the University of Arizona in the U.S. will manipulate insulin signaling in mosquito tissues to create a new breed of mosquito that has a shorter lifespan, yet has increased fertility. Because only older mosquitoes can transmit the malaria parasite, the team hopes these fertile, short-lived mosquitoes will replace longer-lived malaria carriers.

Little is known about the role taste plays in the mosquito feeding process. Paul Breslin of the Monell Chemical Sense Center in the U.S. will test the sensitivity of the mosquito taste system to human skin compounds in an effort to identify key compounds that cue the insects to accept or reject blood meals from humans.

Guirong Wang and colleagues at Vanderbilt University in the U.S. have recently identified key sensory heat receptors used by mosquitoes to target hosts. Wang will use these proteins as molecular targets to develop insect repellents and masking agents that block or hyper-stimulate these receptors and reduce the ability of the vectors to find hosts and spread disease.

CO2 present in exhaled air is used by Anopheles mosquitoes to find their human hosts. Anandasankar Ray of University of California-Riverside plans to identify odors that inhibit the mosquito's CO2- sensitive olfactory neurons, and design long-distance repellents that block the ability of mosquitoes to detect humans and protect large areas.