November 2010
MosqGuide Emeritus Advisor passes away.
From its inception in 2008, Rachel Reuben served as an Emeritus Advisor to the global TDR/WHO project, MosqGuide, for supporting decision making regarding use of GM mosquitoes for malaria and dengue control. In this role, she shared her experience of both technical and societal challenges that arise when novel technology is employed for public good. She was, in fact, uniquely placed to speak as a scientific expert as well as from the pragmatic perspective of vectored disease control in a system of democracy which allows open debate
The project team regrets not having held a meeting in India before the death of our colleague, so that we were not afforded greater discussions with her in person. We will continue to learn from her ideas, however, as we try to strike the balance between respect for the individual’s beliefs and the objective of reducing suffering from disease.
November 2010
Presentations given by members of the MosqGuideteam at ISBGMO11 are now available to download from this site: project/ Download/ Conference Presentations
November 2010
MosqGuide partner Oxitec involved in world's first release of GM mosquitoes.
In November, the Cayman Islands Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) together with Oxitec announced the results of a trial carried out on Grand Cayman last summer (2010). Around 3 million male sterile mosquitoes were released over several months. These releases reduced the local population of the dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti by 80% in the treatment area. Results have been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and will be published in due course, although a presentation on the trial was given to the Florida Mosquito Control Association in late 2010 and is available at:
August 2010 MosqGuidepartners present findings to Singapore audience
The National University of Singapore is playing host to MosqGuide partners from the UK (Imperial College London) and Thailand (Mahidol University) for discussions on best practice for national decisions regarding employing GM mosquitoes in control campaigns. The rise in incidence of dengue has been of concern for this region.
June 2010 MosqGuide at UK Parliamentary Seminar
A seminar on GM insects is being hosted by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), Houses of Parliament, United Kingdom. Experts in genetic engineering and environmental policy will discuss the state of GM insect technology and the resulting policy considerations facing the government. Two of the four experts presenting at the seminar are MosqGuide partners. Following the meeting, an official document
(“POSTnote”) is publicly available. Please access the
document here.
May 2010 Top British health official visits Brazilian partner
The MosqGuide partner, University of Sao Paolo, was recently host to Lord Darzi of Denham, former Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health, who visited the GM mosquito laboratory as part of a British Embassy-hosted tour. Lord Darzi currently advises the British Department of Health and is a recognized champion of interdisciplinary research for introducing innovative technology.
April 2010 Module 2 in Final Consultation
CONSULTATION IS NOW CLOSED. Expert consultation is underway for MosqGuide's Module 2 with best
practice guidance for researchers working with GM mosquitoes. This
guidance is targeted at Researchers working in laboratory conditions and
moving into confined field testing. the initial consultation conducted in
SE Asia earlier in 2010 is now complete. Comments from stakeholders from
any region are still welcome. Final comments should be in by 18th June.
Please access the documents and comment forms here.
March 2010 MosqGuide publication
The MosqGuide team have published a
detailed description of the project which may be downloaded as a pdf file here.
July 2009 MosqGuide in Crete
Three members of the team (Margareth, Mauro and Luke) will be
attending the 4th International EMBO Malaria Meeting at Kolymbari, Crete
from July 19-26.
The meeting will cover aspects of the population biology and genomics of
arthropod disease vectors, and the development of novel control tools.
Full details of the meeting can be downloaded here.
7-8 May 2009 TDR Offices.
Second Project Partnership Coordination Meeting of BL5 project on "Best-practice guidance for deployment of genetic control methods against mosquito vectors in disease-endemic countries"
The first full partnership meeting was held in the United Kingdom in July 2008, and several meetings have been held amongst working subgroups in the United Kingdom and at various topical conferences around the world.
The objective of the full partnership project coordination meeting is to ensure that subgroups working on the several modules of the project have a comprehensive and consensual view on progress and the direction of the remaining activities.
The outcomes expected are: acceptance of revisions to completed materials; acceptance (with revision if needed) of current work plans; agreed work plans for the following year.
The Second Project Partnership Coordination Meeting is organised by Imperial College London as the coordinating partner for the project. Imperial College London is liaising with TDR to coordinate local arrangements for the meeting at WHO, Geneva.
April 2009 MosqGuide in Geneva in May
This May the project team will be attending two consecutive meetings in
Geneva, Switzerland:
1. May 4-6 WH0-HQ (Salle G).
Planning Meetings on Progress and Prospects for the Use of Genetically
Modified Mosquitoes to Inhibit Disease Transmission:
Meeting 1. Technical Consultation on Current Status and Planning for
Future Development.
Full details of the meeting can be downloaded here.
December 2008 Successful vector control course in Mali
A two week course covering the science and implications of GM vector control was held in November and December 2008 at the Université de Bamako in Mali. The TDR sponsored event was organised by the Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, and was targeted at researchers, policy makers and potential trainers in the fields of vector technology. TDR also has selected centres in India and Colombia for similar biosafety training. Camilla Beech and Dr Kenneth Ombongi attended a three day meeting held concurrently to review this first course and ensure coordination with MosqGuide ered during the course included the basics of the genetic modification of disease vectors, but concentrated on the assessment of the ethical, legal and biosafety implications of the new technology, which is essential for effective application. The course aimed to raise awareness of this novel control method in the African research and decision making community.
Details of the course can be found at the TDR website link
here
10th October 2008 Meet project
members on October 14th-18th at the Second international Conference on
Dengue and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever – Phuket , Thailand 15th-17th 2008.
Pre-meeting for WHO network members 14th. Post satellite meeting of the
Innovative Dengue Control Network on
18th.
