Join Transmission Zero, one of Imperial’s pioneering Gene Drive research groups on their mission to stop malaria by modifying mosquitoes themselves to block parasite transmission.

Transmission Zero are an international research programme, headquartered at Imperial College London in the UK, and at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, with partners at the National Medical Research Institute, Tanzania, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Switzerland.

Transmission Zero are working to develop innovative new tools to stop the spread of malaria, which is one of humanity’s greatest burdens and still affects over 230 million people each year. Their approach focuses on modifying mosquitoes so that the malaria parasite that they carry can no longer be transmitted between people. Coupling this with a technology called gene drive allows the modification to be passed on from one generation of mosquito to the next, providing long term control of malaria transmission, with limited need for repeat interventions.

The team hopes that this technology can one day be deployed to protect people from the deadly disease by making mosquito populations themselves resistant to malaria.

At this event you will be able to take part in a guided tour of Transmission Zero’s state-of-the-art facilities in Imperial’s Department of Life Sciences at South Kensington, including a visit to the insectary which houses thousands of mosquitoes from across the world.

Led by researchers on the team, this tour will involve getting up-close with mosquitoes to understand their lifecycle, the impact of malaria, and how technologies like gene drive could change the field of vector control completely and, most importantly, save lives.

***Note: Attendees must not have visited a malaria-endemic country within the past 6 weeks.