Supporting global efforts 

Keele University has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new technologies to support global efforts to control and eliminate malaria.  

Although great progress has been made in reducing its transmission, malaria still causes hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, primarily in sub-Saharan African regions. 

The $750,000 project led by Dr Roberto Galizi from Keele's School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Sharakhov Laboratory at Virginia Tech (USA), will leverage their recent research work to advance the understanding of the specific genes regulating mosquito reproduction. 

This will help the scientists to finetune their ability to edit genes within specific cells of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, a species that can act as a vector for malaria-causing parasites, as a means of controlling their populations.  

Modifying mosquitoes to reduce malaria transmission 

Malaria is a vector-borne disease transmitted through the bite of infected female mosquitoes. Only a few specific species are able to transmit parasites from infected to non-infected humans. By introducing or altering specific genetic sequences in the insects, scientists can reduce their ability to reproduce or transmit disease. 

A deeper understanding of when specific genes are active in malaria-carrying mosquitoes – and how these genes become active - will allow researchers to tailor the use of innovative genetic modification technologies, like CRISPR, to reduce the transmission of deadly diseases by manually modifying or drastically reducing certain mosquito populations that carry these diseases. 

Research helping to save lives 

Dr Galizi said: “Understanding how and when genes are regulated in mosquitoes is crucial to develop efficient methods to control the few species that are able to spread diseases. Malaria is still causing tremendous devastation in sub-Saharan Africa and demands new and more efficient tools to work towards global elimination that we are all hoping to achieve soon. Our work with colleagues will be limited to provide new knowledge and proof of concepts in laboratory settings and no field releases will be conducted as part of the research currently proposed. 

“This funding will enable us to develop and apply advanced approaches to increase precision and effectiveness of gene editing in insects to impair their ability to reproduce or transmit pathogens. We’re enormously grateful to the Gates Foundation for their support and we are excited to initiate this work at Keele with the support of some outstanding collaborators.”