Description du projet
Mise en scène d’un banquet de moustiques
Selon l’Organisation mondiale de la santé, les moustiques sont parmi les créatures les plus meurtrières de la nature. Ils propagent des maladies qui tuent des millions de personnes chaque année. Maîtriser les comportements alimentaires des moustiques peut sembler relativement simple, mais cela s’est avéré assez difficile dans les faits, notamment à cause de l’absence d’une technologie appropriée. Les choses sont en train de changer grâce à une fausse peau humaine, transparente et sous observation via une imagerie quantitative sophistiquée et une vision par ordinateur. Le projet PiQiMosqBite prévoit de disposer l’appât invitant les moustiques à manger sur la peau et le système vasculaire biomimétiques. L’imagerie de haute technologie permettra aux scientifiques d’évaluer le comportement des moustiques infectés, de traiter les signaux sensoriels et d’injecter de la salive pour obtenir des indices permettant à terme de prévenir la propagation des maladies.
Objectif
Mosquitoes serve as vectors for diseases including dengue and malaria, for which half the world's population is at risk. Mosquito-borne pathogens are transmitted during blood feeding, yet despite its crucial role in pathogen transmission, blood feeding behavior remains ill understood. The sensory integration of physical and chemical cues on the skin and below its surface, and the effect of pathogen infection on blood feeding are poorly characterized. These knowledge gaps are due to a lack of tools to quantitatively study blood feeding behavior. To overcome these limitations, I propose an innovative approach to study blood feeding by leveraging quantitative imaging, computer vision, and an engineered human skin mimic to create a high-throughput behavioral assay. Imaging mosquitoes feeding on a transparent skin mimic will enable the detailed characterization of the behavioral trajectory leading to blood feeding while simultaneously allowing the analysis of biting dynamics by imaging the expectoration of saliva. To unravel the behavioral effects of pathogen infection, I will compare blood feeding by non-infected Aedes aegypti (the main dengue vector) and Anopheles gambiae (an important malaria vector) with their dengue virus and Plasmodium falciparum infected counterparts. Next, I will use microfabricaton to embed artificial vasculature in the skin mimic to dissect the sensory cue integration underlying blood feeding. I will characterize the biting dynamics of mutant Aedes aegypti deficient in various sensory pathways feeding on skin mimics that present a defined set of cues. By combining my skills in biophysics with the host labs expertise in mosquito-pathogen interactions, this project will provide a deep understanding of the neurobiology underlying blood feeding by mosquitoes, and the effect that pathogen infections may have on this behavior. Elucidating the transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens will provide valuable insights to combat mosquito-borne diseases.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA viruses
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesmalaria
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencecomputer vision
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyinvertebrate zoology
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
75724 Paris
France