The Institut Pasteur iGEM 2016 Team came up with the Mos(kit)o device, which includes a trap to capture mosquitoes, an analysis station to detect the presence of pathogens in them and a mapping tool of the local of the infected mosquitoes.
To conceive the device, Rhino was used by the multidisciplinary team, which included students from ENSCI-Les Ateliers design school, ESPCI chemistry and physics engineering school, Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris Diderot University, ETSL Biotech School and Jean Monnet Law Faculty in the Paris area.
The trap and analysis station components were designed according to entomologists’ recommendations. A 3D printed version was generated and used as a demonstrator device for the iGEM competition, at several venues including BioDesign events.
Zika, yellow fever, and several other diseases (arboviruses) are transmitted to people from insects’ bites. Currently, there are no vaccines for most of these diseases. One of the strategies to deal with the issue is to carry out massive insecticide spraying, resulting in toxicity and resistance by the mosquitoes. The Mos(kit)o device will be an innovative tool to monitor the presence of infected mosquitoes, prevent, and help in an environmentally responsible way of spraying insecticides.
For the Mos(kit)o device, the Institut Pasteur Paris 2016 Team won a gold medal and three best prizes (Best Applied Design, Best Diagnostic, and Best Entrepreneurship) at the 2016 iGEM competition.
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