Gene Mods for Malaria Mosquito

from the no-more-need-for-bzzzz-slap dept.
Greg Burch told us about the first stable germ line changes to the species of mosquito that transmits malaria. (Malaria kills an estimated 2.7 million people a year.) Researchers at Imperial College London and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, inserted a fluorescent marker gene in Anopheles mosquitoes. This is a first step toward making anti-malarial changes to the mosquito, such as making it produce antibodies against the malaria parasite. Greg comments: "What a great breakthrough in gene-engineering PR it would be if this line of research would prove fruitful against malaria!"