- ‘Anti-malarial mosquitoes’ created using controversial genetic technology (theguardian.com)
Hundreds of genetically modified mosquitoes that are incapable of spreading the malaria parasite to humans have been created in a laboratory as part of a radical approach to combating the disease…The move marks a major step towards the development of a powerful and controversial technology called a “gene drive” that aims to tackle the disease by forcing anti-malarial genes into swarms of wild mosquitoes…mosquitoes were engineered to carry genes for antibodies that target the human malaria parasite...When released into the wild, researchers believe the modified insects will breed with normal mosquitoes and pass the anti-malarial genes on to their young, making an ever-increasing proportion of future generations resistant to the malaria parasite…To track which insects inherited the antibody genes, the scientists added a tracer gene that gave carriers red fluorescent eyes…Concern that drug and insecticide resistance are eroding recent successes in managing malaria has drawn attention to alternative approaches, including the use of genetically modified mosquitoes.
- Beating parasites wins three scientists Nobel prize for medicine (reuters.com)
Three scientists…whose discoveries led to the development of potent new drugs against parasitic diseases…won the Nobel Prize for Medicine…Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin,…used to treat..river blindness and lymphatic filariasis...China's Tu Youyou was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths…She is China's first Nobel laureate in medicine.
- Malaria vaccine Mosquirix gets European approval (cbc.ca)
first malaria vaccine got a green light... from European drugs regulators who recommended it as safe and effective to use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease....called RTS,S or Mosquirix, and developed by GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help prevent millions of cases of malaria...