bVector – Meet the experts

These are series of video interviews with researchers specialized in the field of mosquitoes and other biting insects involved in the transmission of pathogens responsible for human and animal diseases. The aim of these interviews is to better prepare for and prevent new epidemics by sharing know-how with laboratories and institutions in need, by sharing facilities where specialized infrastructures are lacking, and by providing technical support for interventions especially in developing countries. Listen to interviews with experts in vector control, surveillance, laboratory and field training, guidelines for control programs and other topics as they discuss the potential for collaboration and scientific support.

Episode 4 – Interview with Dr Simon Carpenter

5 March 2021

The Pirbright Institute (Pirbright, UK) is a world leading centre of excellent in research and surveillance of virus diseases of farm animals and viruses that spread from animals to humans (zoonosis).
Find out more in this interview with Dr Simon Carpenter (Head of Entomology) on what the Institute can offer you as training courses, knowledge transfer, technical support, products and services related to the control of arthropod vectors and vector-borne diseases.

Episode 3 – Interview with Prof Kenneth Vernick

10 December 2020

Are you working on vector-borne diseases or on the control of insect vectors (e.g. mosquitoes) involved in the transmission of pathogens (e.g. dengue, Plasmodium)? Do you need laboratory space to run your experiments, or a sophisticated facility for infection of vectors, behavioural studies, full genome sequencing or other studies? Are you looking for training opportunities in these areas?
Infravec2, a Research Infrastructure project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant No.731060) provides NO COST facility access, services, and products to researchers and companies worldwide.
Find out more from our interview with Infravec2 Coordinator Prof. Kenneth Vernick.

Episode 2 – Interview with Prof Marcus Hall

23 October 2020

Did you know how the Second World War contributed to the spread of Malaria in Italy at that time? There were more soldiers dying for malaria than from armed conflict. And what about open-air “laboratories” where entomologists were studying the use of DDT to control mosquitoes? Several remedies were tested to fight malaria in humans but maybe you would like to know more about how these drugs were tested.
Enjoy the interview “World War II and the axis of disease: battling Malaria in the twentieth-century Italy” with the historian Professor Marcus Hall, from the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies of the University of Zürich (Switzerland).

Episode 1 – Interview with Dr Simard

1 October 2020

In this edition we are listening at Dr Frederic Simard from IRD, the French Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment in Montpellier, France. Dr Simard is an entomologist working in the field of vector-borne diseases (VBDs). His main field of expertise is on mosquitoes (Anopheles) involved in the transmission of Plasmodium parasites which causes Malaria disease. Capacity building and know-how of Simard’s group are here discussed with a special focus on skills and technical support that IRD can offer to other people in the world that are working on vector-borne diseases.