MSGID: 1:317/3 63e5c875   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Bite this! Mosquito feeding chamber uses fake skin, real blood    
    Innovative tool tests blood-sucking behavior with technology instead of   
   volunteers    
      
     Date:   
         February 9, 2023   
     Source:   
         Rice University   
     Summary:   
         Bioengineers and experts in tropical medicine have invented a new   
         way of studying mosquito feeding behavior using technology instead   
         of live volunteers. Their open-source design combines automated   
         cameras, artificial intelligence and blood-infused, 3D-printed   
         'synthetic skin.'   
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   If watching animals feast on human blood for 30-plus hours isn't your   
   idea of fun, don't worry. The robot can do it.   
      
      
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   Rice University bioengineers have teamed up with tropical medicine experts   
   from Tulane University to take some of the pain out of studying the   
   feeding behavior of mosquitoes. The insects' bites can spread diseases   
   like malaria, dengue and yellow fever, but setting up experiments to   
   examine their behavior can take a big bite out of lab budgets.   
      
   "Many mosquito experiments still rely on human volunteers and animal   
   subjects," said Kevin Janson, a Rice bioengineering graduate student   
   and lead co-author of a study about the research published this week in   
   Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Live subject testing can   
   be expensive, and Janson said the "data can take many hours to process."   
   So he and his co-authors found a way to automate the collection and   
   processing of that data using inexpensive cameras and machine-learning   
   software. To eliminate the need for live volunteers, their system   
   uses patches of synthetic skin made with a 3D printer. Each patch of   
   gelatin-like hydrogel comes complete with tiny passageways that can be   
   filled with flowing blood.   
      
   To create the stand-ins for skin, Rice's team, which included Janson   
   and his Ph.D. adviser Omid Veiseh, used bioprinting techniques that were   
   pioneered in the lab of former Rice professor Jordan Miller.   
      
   For feeding tests, as many as six of the hydrogels can be placed in a   
   transparent plastic box about the size of a volleyball. The chambers are   
   surrounded with cameras that point at each blood-infused hydrogel patch.   
      
   Mosquitos are placed in the chamber, and the cameras record how often   
   the insects land at each location, how long they stay, whether or not   
   they bite, how long they feed and the like.   
      
   The system was tested at the laboratory of Dawn Wesson, a mosquito expert   
   and associate professor of tropical medicine at Tulane's School of Public   
   Health and Tropical Medicine. Wesson's research group has facilities for   
   breeding and testing large populations of mosquitoes of varying species.   
      
   In the proof-of-concept experiments featured in the study, Wesson,   
   Janson and co-authors used the system to examine the effectiveness of   
   existing mosquito repellents made with either DEET or a plant-based   
   repellent derived from the oil of lemon eucalyptus plants. Tests showed   
   mosquitoes readily fed on hydrogels without any repellent and stayed   
   away from hydrogel patches coated with either repellent. While DEET   
   was slightly more effective, both tests showed each repellent deterred   
   mosquitoes from feeding.   
      
   Veiseh, the study's corresponding author and an assistant professor   
   of bioengineering in Rice's George R. Brown School of Engineering,   
   said the results suggest the behavioral test system can be scaled up   
   to test or discover new repellents and to study mosquito behavior more   
   broadly. He said the system also could open the door for testing in labs   
   that couldn't previously afford it.   
      
   "It provides a consistent and controlled method of observation,"   
   Veiseh said.   
      
   "The hope is researchers will be able to use that to identify ways to   
   prevent the spread of disease in the future."  Wesson said her lab is   
   already using the system to study viral transmission of dengue, and she   
   plans to use it in future studies involving malaria parasites.   
      
   "We are using the system to examine virus transmission during blood   
   feeding," Wesson said. "We are interested both in how viruses get taken   
   up by uninfected mosquitoes and how viruses get deposited, along with   
   saliva, by infected mosquitoes.   
      
   "If we had a better understanding of the fine mechanics and proteins   
   and other molecules that are involved, we might be able to develop some   
   means of interfering in those processes," she said.   
      
   This research was supported by the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen   
   C. Kleberg Foundation.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Health_&_Medicine   
                   # Malaria # Medical_Topics # Viruses   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Insects_(including_Butterflies) # Pests_and_Parasites   
                   # Virology   
             o Matter_&_Energy   
                   # Microarrays # Robotics_Research # Materials_Science   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Artificial_heart o Wound o Circuit_design o Mosquito o   
             Blood_sugar o Dog_intelligence o Emerging_technologies o Acne   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Rice_University. Original written   
   by Jade Boyd. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Kevin D. Janson, Brendan H. Carter, Samuel B. Jameson, Jane   
      E. de Verges,   
         Erika S. Dalliance, Madison K. Royse, Paul Kim, Dawn M. Wesson,   
         Omid Veiseh. Development of an automated biomaterial platform to   
         study mosquito feeding behavior. Frontiers in Bioengineering and   
         Biotechnology, 2023; 11 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1103748   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230209094201.htm   
      
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