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Oxitec Ltd, the company that developed a self-limited genetically engineered mosquito, has been working with health authorities in Piracicaba, Brazil, in attempt to reduce the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that transmits diseases including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Dengue has been the main mosquito-transmitted disease affecting Piracicaba.
Oxitec’s Head of Field Operations, Dr Andrew McKemey, and Dr Pedro Mello, the Secretary of Health for Piracicaba in Brazil, will be in the UK next week and are available to answer any questions you might have about the science behind the GM mosquito, what stage their current mosquito release programme is at, and what the situation is in Piracicaba. Piracicaba City Hall partnered with Oxitec in March 2015 to use the mosquitoes and that programme is now being extended to a larger area of the city.
Speakers:
Dr Andrew McKemey, Head of Field Operations, Oxitec
Andrew leads the field operations team at Oxitec, and is responsible for the programme in Piracicaba.
Dr Pedro Mello, Secretary of Health of the city of Piracicaba, Brazil (Pedro will be speaking via a translator)
Pedro has been the Secretary of Health of the city of Piracicaba since 2013 and for the past 40 years has also been a practicing physician.