Exploiting insect tyrosine metabolism for vector control: laboratory and field verification

The burden of vector-borne disease, residual malaria transmission and the threat of resistance to insecticide-based vector control all drive the current search for novel vector control tools. This research project will address the need for an effective and environmentally friendly compound for use, alongside current methods of vector control. An example of such compounds are inhibitors of insect tyrosine degradation, including nitisinone, which is FDA-approved and used for treating human metabolic diseases. The specific questions of this PhD project are:

1. What is the mosquitocidal effect of nitisinone, a tyrosine metabolism inhibitor, when fed to mosquitoes via blood meals and/or sugar meals?

2. What is the predicted efficacy of nitisinone as an endectocide (PK/PD modelling) and/or an ATSB? (ATSB modelling)

3. How does nitisinone perform compared to other gold standards for mosquito control when used as endectocide and/or an ATSB?

This project aims to answer these questions using first laboratory-reared mosquitoes and then wild populations, with the objective of validating and optimising predictive models that have been generated, using in-vitro laboratory data.