Mosquito-borne infectious diseases like malaria, which claims half a million lives a year, have been on the rise over the past several years and pose a significant threat to global health. Even with the availability of many viable chemistries, there is a pressing need for new and innovative solutions to address insecticide resistance, mitigate environmental impact and combat mosquito-borne diseases.
To solve this problem, Molly Scheel, Navari Family Professor in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, has developed an environmentally-safe and effective RNAi insecticide specific to mosquitos, turning off genes needed for mosquito development and neural function. Scheel and her team utilized small RNA molecules to kill juvenile mosquitos in order to prevent their maturation into reproducing adults that spread disease-causing pathogens such as Zika, dengue, yellow fever and malaria parasites.
“Finding the best method to deliver this insecticide to mosquitos was the hardest part of this process, but we discovered that implementing a strain of yeast that expresses the interfering RNA effectively kills the mosquitos,” Scheel said. “Yeast is an attractive food source for both mosquito larvae and adults. We can add the yeast to water, where mosquito larvae develop into adults. We can also add the yeast to sugar baits, which can be fed to adult mosquitos that die, preventing the spread of pathogens.”
Scheel’s research primarily focuses on mosquito developmental biology in hopes of reducing the number of human deaths caused by mosquitos annually. She and her laboratory conduct in-depth analyses of mosquito developmental genetics to promote the elucidation of tools to target mosquitoes before they are disease-transmitting adults.
Compared to insecticides on the market, Scheel’s improved insecticide is safe for other non-targeted organisms. Although she and her team selected sequences specific to mosquitos to develop the genetically based insecticide, the insecticide, which is safe by design, can even be fed to honey bees without harming them.
“The IU Innovation and Commercialization Office has been a fantastic partner with filing patents to protect our work and helping us interact with licensing partners,” Scheel said. “I’m a basic scientist at heart so I had no clue about the world of commercialization, but the ICO team made this entire process much simpler.”
Scheel also received support from the Innovative Vector Control Consortium, which works with researchers to build partnerships that create innovative solutions to prevent the transmission of insect-borne disease.
For IU researchers considering commercializing their research, Scheel recommends taking the dive and submitting an invention disclosure.
“Protecting your research starts with invention disclosures. You never know what opportunities may come your way because of it,” Scheel said. “The ICO team will help you pursue patent protection and work toward commercialization of your technology, which could be beneficial to society.”
The IU Innovation and Commercialization Office works closely with faculty, industry and the entrepreneurial community in Indiana to take IU innovations to market. Through technology innovation and commercial partnership, the office aims to move IU discovery from lab to the market to improve and save lives while amplifying IU research impact.
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