Distinguished University Professor University of Maryland College Park, Maryland
Conservative estimates put the number of new malaria infections each year at 400 million, and every one of those infections started with a mosquito bite. Although millions die from arthropod borne diseases the ongoing development of pesticide resistance has reduced our control options. I will describe how we used entomopathogenic fungi as a vehicle to carry genes encoding arthropod toxins into insects, thereby greatly increasing their ability to kill mosquitoes. We have moved the work outdoors, carrying out the first-ever semi contained field trials of genetically-engineered fungi in a malaria endemic region of Africa. The trail demonstrated that a transgenic fungus collapses populations of insecticide resistant mosquitoes within two generations. The challenge we are currently addressing is to convert this promising strategy into a validated public health intervention by resolving scientific, regulatory, manufacturing, and social issues related to the release of genetically modified organisms.
