{"id":6807,"date":"2022-01-18T13:58:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T13:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/targetmalaria.org\/?p=6807"},"modified":"2025-08-29T08:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T07:40:04","slug":"reflexions-sur-lannee-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/targetmalaria.org\/fr\/latest\/blog\/reflexions-sur-lannee-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"R\u00e9flexions sur l\u2019ann\u00e9e 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As 2022 begins I would like to take a moment to reflect on the milestones of the past year. Another year of the pandemic meant another year of adaptations and mitigations. Despite these obstacles, the Target Malaria consortium has continued to drive forwards our research, development, and capacity-building activities.<\/p>\n\n

In Burkina Faso<\/a>, the team shared the <\/strong>results of seven months of monitoring<\/a> following the release of non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes in 2019<\/strong>. The release was a first in Africa and allowed the team to work closely with stakeholders and regulatory authorities, as well as to collect information regarding the behaviour of genetically modified mosquitoes in the field. The release served as a capacity-building opportunity for the team on how to import, rear, transport, release and monitor non gene drive genetically modified mosquitoes, as well as providing scientific information.<\/p>\n\n

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Small-scale release of non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes by the IRSS team on 1 July 2019 in the village of Bana, Burkina Faso<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

In Mali<\/a>, two years of laboratory studies on a strain of non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes were <\/strong>concluded successfully<\/a> in November 2021. New cutting-edge skills in entomology, molecular biology and genetics were developed, allowing the team to sustain colonies of both local and genetically modified mosquitoes.<\/p>\n\n

Target Malaria Uganda<\/a><\/strong> also had a busy 2021. It was exciting to follow from afar as the team at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) set out in October to Jaana Island, Lake Victoria for a three-week entomological expedition to examine the population of An. gambiae<\/em> using the Close Kin Mark Recapture (CKMR) approach<\/strong>. CKMR is a technique used to estimate the population size of a particular species in an area by identifying close-kin-pairs (parent-offspring or half-siblings) amongst a collection of sampled insects or animals. Our teams will now further examine these mosquitoes in the laboratory to gain a better understanding of the insects. More such expeditions will continue in 2022 for this joint research project between Target Malaria, UVRI and the University of Notre Dame. The insectary team has been working hard to prepare for future work on genetically modified mosquitoes, and concluded an internal audit at the end of the year as part of the regulatory process.<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, teams of Target Malaria researchers in Italy and the UK <\/strong>successfully demonstrated<\/a> that gene drive mosquitoes can reduce mosquito populations in large cages<\/strong> mimicking natural environments[1]<\/a>. The study marks an important achievement in Target Malaria\u2019s step-wise approach to develop an innovative vector control tool and lays out a successful paradigm for spanning the knowledge gap between the laboratory and the field.<\/p>\n\n

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Gene drive mosquitoes being studied in the Crisanti laboratory at Imperial College, London<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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This success was due in part to improvements we made in our genetic constructs to better control when and where it is expressed in the mosquito as highlighted in this publication\u00a0: Regulating the expression of gene drives is key to increasing their invasive potential and the mitigation of resistance.<\/a>[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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As important technical successes were made across the project, we also made progress on the risk assessment front. Our risk and regulatory teams published<\/a> a paper<\/a> in Malaria Journal<\/em>, using problem formulation to evaluate potential impacts that the release of gene drive mosquitoes to fight malaria could have on the environment or on human and animal health<\/strong>. This study represents the first systematic and comprehensive identification of the potential harms of gene drive mosquitoes on environment, animal and human health, and paves the way for a long process of studies, risk and impact assessments that will need to be carried out to analyse risks and benefits of this new technology.<\/p>\n\n

One potentially harmful side-effect of reducing the numbers of An. gambiae<\/em> mosquitoes is that it could conceivably have cascading ecological effects in the environment. In Ghana<\/a><\/strong>, researchers at the University of Ghana teamed up with colleagues from the University of Oxford and the University of Guelph in a ground-breaking research project aimed at investigating the ecological implications of reducing Anopheles gambiae <\/em>populations<\/a>. Specifically, researchers have been collecting data in the field that will lead to the creation of an \u201cecological network\u201d mapping how organisms in the local ecosystem in Ghana interact with An. gambiae<\/em> mosquitoes. The objective is to understand the role these mosquito species play in the ecosystem and model how current interactions would change if their numbers were to be reduced in an effort to control malaria through gene drive approaches.<\/p>\n\n

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