[Atkinson] The mission of the Center for Disease Vector Research is to develop new
technologies that will alleviate
the burden exacted by insects that vector
many, many pathogens of human disease.
The new opportunities for insect control in our center has
come about through the composition of faculty and through
recent advances in genomics/genetics. So the reason our work is fundamentally
important is that throughout our history
we've always been
battling with insects in order to have a thriving civilization.
[Raikhel] My research concerns
two aspects of mosquito biology.
We're studying mosquitoes because they're vectors of
numerous devastating
a human diseases such as malaria, dengue virus, West Nile, encephalitis, and others.
In my laboratory we're studying the
mechanism regulating egg development
in mosquito females which are
transmitting these
pathogens. Mosquitoes have immune systems,
simpler than ours, but nevertheless very complicated.
And part of this
immune system
controls
proliferation or
growth of pathogens. So, the second part of our research
accounts from the
understanding how mosquitoes
takes blood, acquire pathogens,
And these pathogens
utilize mosquito organism to their advantage. So in my laboratory we're trying
to understand
what factors
can control malaria, let's say,
or other pathogens within mosquito organism, and whether we can
interrupt
or enhance the factors to
interrupt transmission cycle.
[Le Roch] So in our lab, we are really trying to understand the biology of the
malaria parasite
infecting humans, so trying to understand
how the parasite replicates inside the red blood cell.
Today we still have one billon people being at risk of contracting the disease. We found
500 million people becoming newly infected every year.
And approximately one million people dying of malaria every year.
So that's the affair today
and because most of the drugs targeting the infection
now the parasite is becoming resistant to almost every drug on the
market. We definitely need to find a new drug quickly,
if we want to eradicate the disease. In the lab we've been
using a lot of genomic technologies, and we are not looking at only one gene at a time we’re trying to
look at 5500 genes coding inside the plasma genome.
Usually by getting a global view, we
find new discoveries and new pathways and you can let on target more
specifically proteins that could be
an interesting new target against malaria.
[Ray] So most insects, including disease-carrying insects,
find their hosts, like human beings or plants,
using the sense of smell. So one of the main
aspects of our research is trying to not only understand how the insect can
detect orders from a human being and find the human being, but also how we
can disrupt this pathway.
In the nose of the insects there are various types of sensors that can detect.
These are specialized cells which can detect different types of chemicals. And so what we do
is if we can block these cells
that are required to detect a human being,
we can
try to block
the ability of the mosquito to find
the human being, the
final resource.
So we're in the process of finding novel insect repellents and lures that can be
used to control
mosquitoes that transmit deadly diseases for people to use in California and in
other parts of the country.
[Atkinson] We have to keep the fight going so that we're developing new technologies
that stay ahead of these
incredibly dangerous insects. And in doing so, we'll be able to develop technologies that
will enable
our children and our grandchildren to remain well-fed and healthy.