Tool/Machine

Laurence Zwiebel of Vanderbilt University in the U.S. will produce a wearable self-powered device containing the compound VUAA known to repel the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae. This will help to protect individuals from being bitten outdoors. He will optimize volatilization of VUAA compounds, and explore strategies to incorporate selected analogs into wearable materials.

Alexandra Hiscox from Wageningen University in The Netherlands will enhance the effectiveness of outdoor baited traps to attract disease-spreading mosquitoes by combining them with a repellant applied to the outside of houses. In contrast to indoor repellants and insecticide-treated bed nets, this push-pull system targets those outdoor mosquitoes specifically looking to bite humans, and does not use potentially harmful chemicals that can lead to resistance. At a field site in South Africa, they will test whether their system can reduce the entry of mosquitoes into occupied houses.

Molly Duman Scheel of Indiana University in the U.S. will perform a high-throughput screen to identify small interfering (si)RNAs that cause death when ingested by mosquito larvae as a method for reducing malaria transmission. Malaria vector mosquitoes are developing resistance to current larval insecticides, which are used to complement other control strategies such as insecticide-treated nets. They have shown that small RNAs combined with chitosan nanoparticles are ingested by mosquito larvae and can silence their gene targets.

Lara Brewer of University of Utah Health Sciences Center in the U.S. will upgrade oxygen concentrators in low-resource settings by adding manual powering, oxygen storage, and a conservation function, and allowing for the simultaneous delivery to multiple children. Oxygen is required to treat children with pneumonia, but current concentrators rely on a continuous power supply and can only support one child at a time. They will incorporate a pedal-powered compressor and low-pressure storage tank to maintain supply during power outages.

Roger Rassool of the University of Melbourne in Australia will build a device that stably stores oxygen ready for treating children with pneumonia particularly in low- resource settings with unreliable electricity supplies. They will develop a safe, low-pressure oxygen storage device comprising two coupled storage chambers and utilizing water to provide pressure for delivery. The volumes and pressure required will be tested, and the device will be fillable from existing oxygen concentrators. Once built, the device will be tested by training staff and assessed for usability in the field.

Daniel Swale of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in the U.S. will develop a trap to attract and kill pregnant Anopheles mosquitoes and their larvae, which transmit malaria. They will identify the best compound for attracting pregnant females based on either the known attractant Cedrol, a sugar-based attractant, or CO2. They will also test whether the larval development inhibitor triflumuron, alone or in combination with a potassium ion channel inhibitor, can be effectively transferred to the traps by mosquitoes from resting chambers, and destroy the residing larvae.

Flaminia Catteruccia of President and Fellows of Harvard College in the U.S. will produce fabrics and nets treated with the dibenzoylhydrazine (DBH) compound methoxyfenozide, which is toxic to malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, to prevent these insects from entering households and spreading disease. The compound is non-toxic to mammals but disrupts steroid signaling pathways in the mosquito, which is a different mechanism than existing insecticides, reducing lifespan and causing sterility.

Paul Young of the University of Queensland in Australia will monitor mosquito populations using ultra bright nanoparticles coated with selected monoclonal antibodies to detect associated microbes such as Wolbachia, coupled with a low-cost readout device. The goal is a simple to use, portable platform that can be used in the field. They will develop the assay using a range of infected mosquitoes to identify the optimal antibody and nanoparticle format for rapid and specific detection, and evaluate sensitivity.

Bradley Willenberg at the University of Central Florida Research Foundation in the U.S. will design a simple trap that works without electricity to help survey local vector mosquito populations and uses a color change to signal the presence of human disease-causing pathogens. They will develop a formulation based on toxic sugared water to attract specific types of mosquitoes to the trap. The sugar water will be mixed with a stable short nucleic acid sequence known as an aptamer, which they have designed to bind to the chikungunya virus, conjugated to gold nanoparticles.

Feng Qian of Tsinghua University in China will work to develop an inhaled drug particle using a scalable formulation process to deliver tuberculosis drugs directly into the lungs. They will develop micro-particles containing current TB drugs and will test their utility when inhaled.