A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins Hospital are leading research efforts behind malaria transmission.
Maryland health leaders earlier this month reported a resident tested positive for malaria despite not traveling outside of the United States or to another state with recent malaria cases. It’s the first case of malaria of that kind in decades.
A science lab at Johns Hopkins is where researchers are working to better understand the disease.
“So, in this facility here, we have two walk-in incubators where we raised the mosquitoes,” said Dr. George Dimopoulos, the Deputy Director of Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. “And these incubators are warmer and more humid than the regular lab in order to mimic a real malaria transmission environment.”
“There are many different aspects of mosquito biology that we are studying in order to eventually control the transmission of the malaria parasite, control the mosquitoes and find new ways to kill mosquitoes and avoid mosquitoes,” Dr. Dimopoulos said.
Researchers never bring any live mosquitos out because it’s what’s inside that counts.
“We use genetic engineering in order to study the biology of the mosquitoes so we can turn on and off specific genes and see how that can affect the transmission,” Dr. Dimopoulos said. “But we are also developing genetically modified mosquitoes that may one day be used for malaria control.”
The researchers study different samples under a microscope.