Two years of laboratory studies on the non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes concluded successfully in Mali
Two years of laboratory studies on the non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes concluded successfully in Mali
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Population suppression, Target malariaM. Coulibaly, Target Malaria, 2021.
The Target Malaria Mali team at the Malaria Research and Training Centre (MRTC) based at the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB) is proud to have been the first Malian research team to work on non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes. The team has just published the results of the two years we spent studying these mosquitoes in our laboratory. Thanks to this research, we have gained new knowledge and developed cutting-edge skills in the areas of entomology, molecular biology and genetics, allowing us to sustain a colony containing both local and genetically modified mosquitoes. This research was made possible thanks to an authorisation from the Malian Ministry of Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development (MEADD) issued on 21 June 2019 to import a strain of non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes and study them in a contained environment. Initially designed at Imperial College London, the genetically modified mosquitoes were then tested at Polo d’Innovazione di Genomica, Genetica e Biologia (PoloGGB) in Terni, Italy, before being transported to Mali. The mosquito eggs arrived by plane on 4 September 2019. They were kept in the insectarium renovated by the Target Malaria project.