Mosquitoes meet Microfluidics: Interrogating Mosquito-Pathogen Communities in Field Settings

Mosquitoes serve as vectors for many diseases including malaria and dengue. There is no treatment for dengue, and drug-resistance is becoming increasingly problematic for malaria. Mosquito population control is therefore a crucial element of our battle against mosquito-borne diseases. However, mosquito control is hampered by critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of mosquito ecology. Technological limitations currently preclude the detailed analysis of natural mosquito-pathogen communities. This study propose an innovative approach to vector ecology that exploits the physiological fact that mosquitoes transmit pathogens by expectorating saliva. The investigator will develop microfluidic tools that autonomously collect saliva droplets resulting from single mosquito bites in field conditions. Microfluidic analysis of individual droplets enables the high-throughput characterization of the biting mosquito’s genetic make-up and its pathogens. Using these tools the researcher will conduct field studies: (i) Investigating the spatial ecology of drug-resistant malaria parasites in South-East Asia. This will identify the currently unknown ecological drivers of the geographic expansion of drug-resistant malaria. (ii) Studying the genetic landscape of dengue viruses in natural mosquito populations. Although high genetic diversity (quasispecies structure) is likely important for dengue’s virulence, its population-genetic structure in mosquitoes is unknown. Through population sequencing the investigator will elucidate the eco-evolutionary processes that shape dengue’s pathogenicity.

Basic Science
Drug Resistance
Enabling Technologies & Assays
Genetics and Genomics

Nov 2015 — Oct 2017

United States