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Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

NHMRC - Northern Australia Tropical Disease Collaborative Research Programme Hot North Fellowship

Application for Next Generation Sequencing of mosquito excreta to identify arboviruses, microorganisms and mosquito species

Indicative Funding
$35,000 (administered by Menzies School of Health Research)
Summary
Traditional testing for arboviruses in mosquitoes requires a priori knowledge and choosing appropriate assays for their detection. Mosquitoes can potentially provide a lot of additional information, including other unexpected or unknown arboviruses, and their own genetic material. Moreover, mosquitoes in effect act as environmental samplers (?flying syringes?), taking blood from the humans and animals they feed upon. These blood samples could potentially be infected with other pathogens that are not necessarily mosquito-transmitted. Next generation sequencing is a rapidly advancing technology that allows us to obtain all this information from a sample without any prior knowledge of virus, host or vector. We are proposing to use next generation sequencing of mosquito excreta to identify pathogens in mosquitoes collected from locations where different vertebrate groups inhabit, including urban areas, bat colonies, domesticated animals, marsupials, reptiles and avian hosts.
Investigators
Andrew van den Hurk, Scott Ritchie, Dagmar Meyer Steiger, David Warrilow, Alyssa Pyke, Ana Ramirez Lopez and Michael Townsend (Queensland Health Forensic & Scientific Services, College of Public Health, Medical & Vet Sciences and Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
Keywords
Arbovirus; Mosquito; Next Generation Sequencing

Menzies School of Health Research - Ext_Source: NHMRC NATDCRP Hot North Pilot

Can mosquito excreta be used to enhance detection of Australian vector-borne diseases?

Indicative Funding
$31,000 (administered by Menzies School of Health Research)
Summary
Testing for presence of arboviruses usually involves capturing wild mosquitoes and complicated laboratory analyses. These are not only time- and labour-intensive but also costly. Virus detection can be made from saliva however, mosquitoes only expel very small amounts which makes detection difficult. We are proposing to use their excreta instead as it is produced in greater quantities than saliva, and shows higher sensitivity in virus detection. In order to explore this proposal we need to know where and when mosquitoes discharge their excreta in the traps. The discharge of excreta could be dependent on a variety of factors such as temperature, time after last meal or time of day/night, type of trap; it may also be species-dependent or it could just be random. These factors need to be examined to ensure maximum collection of excreta. The results will lead to the modification and optimization of existing traps.
Investigators
Scott Ritchie, Dagmar Meyer Steiger, Ana Ramirez Lopez, Andrew van den Hurk and Nina Kurucz (College of Public Health, Medical & Vet Sciences, Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine, Queensland Health and Department of Health (NT))
Keywords
Arbovirus; Mosquito; Encephalitis

NHMRC - Northern Australia Tropical Disease Collaborative Research Programme

Can mosquito excreta be used to enhance detection of Australian vector-borne diseases? HOT North Early Career Fellowship

Indicative Funding
$74,692 (administered by Menzies School of Health Research)
Summary
Testing for presence of arboviruses usually involves capturing wild mosquitoes and complicated laboratory analyses. These are not only time- and labour-intensive but also costly. Virus detection can be made from saliva however, mosquitoes only expel verysmall amounts which makes detection difficult. We are proposing to use their excreta instead as it is produced in greater quantities than saliva and shows higher sensitivity in virus detection. (HOT North Early Career Fellowship)
Investigators
Dagmar Meyer Steiger (College of Public Health and Medical & Vet Sciences)
Keywords
Mosquitoes; Vector-borne Diseases; arboviruses; mosquito traps; virus-detection
Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.

  • 5+ collaborations
  • 4 collaborations
  • 3 collaborations
  • 2 collaborations
  • 1 collaboration
  • Indicates the Tropics (Torrid Zone)

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