Dr Shivanand Hegde, a vector biologist at LSTM, was awarded the Director’s Catalyst Fund to study the transmission of the microbial flora between mosquito generations.
New vector control strategies are needed due to the reliance on insecticides and rise in resistance in malaria-transmitting mosquito populations. The microbial communities which resides in the gut of mosquitoes has been explored as a target for mosquito control, due to the influence of these on the biology and pathogen transmission of mosquitoes. However very little is understood with regards to these microbes in mosquitoes and, importantly, how they are transmitted between mosquito generations. Dr Hegde will use the Director’s Catalyst Fund, under the supervision of Dr Grant Hughes, to explore the role of mosquito microbiota in survival and how it is transmitted from one generation to the next, using a novel cutting-edge techniques to rear mosquitoes.