Big data against infectious diseases

After abate of the COVID-19 pandemic, a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin plans to collect extensive mosquito samples in Africa and Latin America and analyze them with a completely new approach.

Mosquitoes are among the most dangerous animals in the world. With one bite, they can infect humans with diseases such as malaria or dengue. But: There are many mosquito species that differ in their habitat and their dangerousness. And at the same time, climate change and global warming are increasingly changing these habitats.

In this project, extensive mosquito samples in Africa and Latin America will be collected and analyzed. The complex interactions with microorganisms influence and drive the evolution of all living things. Therefore, the climate and weather affect, the composition of the microbial communities in the environment and in the mosquito intestine will be considered, too.

The results of the project will help understand how the gut microbiome in mosquitoes affects the multiplication of malaria parasites: this could help predict and reduce the threat of infectious diseases in our rapidly changing world.

With their donations, the Supporting Members enable an interdisciplinary large-scale project to investigate the connection between climate change, microbes, mosquitoes and infectious diseases.