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Principal Investigator: John Macky Marshall
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $310,137
Funding agency: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT:
Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases continue to pose a major global health burden
through much of the world, despite the widespread distribution of insecticide-based tools and antimalarial
drugs. Consequently, there is interest in novel strategies to control these diseases, including the release of
genetically sterile male mosquitoes, mosquitoes transfected with Wolbachia, and mosquitoes engineered with
gene drive systems. The safety and effectiveness of these strategies and considerations regarding trial design
and implementation are critically dependent upon a detailed understanding of mosquito movement at both fine
and broad spatial scales, yet there are major gaps in our understanding of these movement patterns. The
declining cost of genome sequencing and novel methods for analyzing geocoded genomic data provide
opportunities to address these knowledge gaps. In this project, we propose to devise a robust approach for
inferring fine-scale mosquito dispersal patterns and their impact on innovative vector control strategies. We
propose to use in silico simulations of mosquito ecology and preliminary geocoded mosquito genomic data
collected from Fresno, California to determine sampling routines capable of quantifying dispersal patterns,
population sizes and mating patterns using genetic kinship analyses (Aim 1). Results from these analyses will
iteratively inform sampling schemes for two rounds of subsequent collections of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito
vector of dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses, in Yishun, Singapore (Aim 2). Genome sequencing and
kinship analyses will be used to quantify Ae. aegypti movement patterns, population sizes and mating
behaviors at this location, and to parameterize spatially-structured 3D models of Ae. aegypti population
dynamics. The resulting models will be used to explore biosafety, trial design and implementation
considerations for novel vector control strategies including: i) population suppression systems such as
Wolbachia-infected males and genetically sterile males, and ii) population replacement systems such as
population transfection with Wolbachia, localized systems such as chromosomal translocations, and non-
localized systems such as homing-based gene drive (Aim 3). We expect the proposed research to lead to the
development of greatly enhanced surveillance strategies to infer fine-scale mosquito movement patterns and
other demographic parameters, and to help inform the safe application of several novel and highly promising
strategies for the control of dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses and other devastating mosquito-borne
diseases.
Terms: <3-D modeling><3-D structure><3-dimensional structure><3D modeling><3D structure><Address><Aedes><Anti-malarials><Bionomics><Breakbone Fever Virus><Breeding><CHIKV><California><Chikungunya virus><Chromosomal dislocation><Chromosomal translocation><Chromosome Mapping><Collection><Culicidae><DENV><Data><Death Rate><Dengue><Dengue Virus><Dengue fever virus><Development><Ecology><Effectiveness><Engineering><Environmental Wind><Fishes><Gene Localization><Gene Mapping><Gene Mapping Genetics><Genes><Genetic><Genetic Translocation><Genetic analyses><Habitats><Homing><Housing><Individual><Insecticides><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Knowledge><Larva><Linkage Mapping><Location><Male Sterility><Methods><Modeling><Mosquito Control><Mosquito-borne disease><Mosquito-borne infectious disease><Mosquitoes><Movement><Parameter Estimation><Parents><Partner in relationship><Pattern><Population><Population Dynamics><Population Replacements><Population Sizes><Protocol><Protocols documentation><Research><Safety><Sample Size><Sampling><Scheme><Siblings><Singapore><Site><Speed><Structure><System><Total Human and Non-Human Gene Mapping><Transfection><Tuna><Variant><Variation><Wind><Wolbachia><ZIKA><ZIKV><Zika Virus><analytical method><anti-malarial agents><anti-malarial drugs><body movement><chikungunya><chromosome dislocation><chromosome translocation><coral><cost><density><developmental><disease control><disorder control><gene drive approach><gene drive strategy><gene drive system><gene drive technology><genetic analysis><genetic mapping><genome sequencing><genomic data><genomic data-set><genomic dataset><global health><in silico><innovate><innovation><innovative><interest><interventional strategy><land cover><male><mate><mating behavior><mortality rate><mortality ratio><new approaches><next-generation gene drive><novel><novel approaches><novel strategies><novel strategy><offspring><parent><simulation><surveillance strategy><three dimensional structure><three-dimensional modeling><tool><trial design><vector control><vector mosquito><zikav>