Andie Smidler, PhD ’19, took STAT inside Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s mosquito insectary for a June 14, 2016 article. Smidler conducts experiments using a tool called gene drive that can be used to spread an altered gene through a targeted population over many generations. Her goal is to make the malaria-transmitting Anopheles gambiae mosquito either infertile or malaria-resistant.
Her job also requires caring for the lab’s mosquitoes, including feeding them human blood. And she is armed with a Bug Warrior racket in case any test subjects get loose.
While some estimate that genetically engineered mosquitoes could be released into the wild by 2030, Smidler is cautiously optimistic. “I am 27. I want to see gene drive released before I die.”
Read STAT article: Inside Harvard’s hot and humid mosquito lab
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Gene-edited mosquitoes might help fight malaria (Harvard Chan news)