Add to Favourites
To login click here
Researchers from Tulane and Rice Universities have partnered to study how mosquitoes transmit deadly diseases and which repellents are most effective. To do this, they are using a handheld vacuum to capture mosquitoes and releasing them into a clear plastic box. The mosquitoes are then attracted to a vessel of scarlet blood flowing under a small square of clear synthetic skin, called hydrogels, which eliminates the need for human and animal testing. Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine produces more than 1,000 mosquitoes a week and a 3D printer creates hydrogels. Rice University bioengineers developed the hydrogel material and a machine-learning algorithm to analyze the data.