Scientists achieve breakthrough in controlling mosquito-borne diseases

A research team has developed an automated device that can efficiently separate male and female mosquitoes—an engineering breakthrough in the biological control of mosquito-borne diseases.

The international research team, consisting of researchers from institutions such as Michigan State University, Jinan University, and Guangzhou Wolbaki Biotech Co., Ltd., published their results in the international academic journal Science Robotics on Wednesday.

In recent years, mosquito-borne diseases, led by dengue fever, have become increasingly severe due to climate change and human mobility. Chemical control has limited effects on these pests and brings about environmental pollution and drug resistance issues, according to Li Yongjun, an associate professor at Jinan University.

Discussing the advantages of biological control, Li said, "Studies have shown that releasing male mosquitoes, which do not bite or transmit diseases, to mate with wild female mosquitoes can effectively control the wild mosquito population."

Though this control technology has been verified in many countries to suppress the population density of wild disease-transmitting mosquitoes and reduce the spread of dengue fever, its large-scale regional application has been globally limited by the bottleneck issue of how to separate male from female mosquitoes.

According to Gong Juntao, a researcher at Guangzhou Wolbaki Biotech Co., Ltd., the team independently developed an automated device that can stir, separate, and collect mosquito pupae efficiently. The automated separator allows its operator to separate over 16 million male mosquitoes by working eight hours a day and five days a week, a 17-fold increase compared to manual sex separation.

Gong stated that the results have shown that the automated device has the potential to effectively control tropical mosquito-borne diseases.

The device has been sold to 18 countries, including the United States, Australia, and Italy.