What are some of the technologies and breakthroughs that fuel Debug?

We’ve been working hard on new approaches to: 1) automate the process of rearing millions of mosquitoes, 2) separate males from females with extremely high precision, and 3) release Debug’s good mosquitoes in the right place and in the right numbers. These advances are designed to both make mosquito and disease reduction efforts more successful, and to make the Sterile Insect Technique more cost effective and accessible to more places affected by mosquito-borne diseases. We plan on sharing more about what we’re developing in the future, but it’s proven essential to have great engineers and mosquito biologists working together.

Is anyone else doing projects like Debug?

There are several projects around the world looking at how sterile insect technology and Wolbachia can be used to combat mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, including Aedes aegypti. There are projects with Aedes aegypti and Wolbachia underway in the United States, Singapore, and a number of studies with other types of mosquitoes, some dating back decades. All face similar problems of how to make a broader and sustainable impact on mosquito populations and demonstrate that they can protect against mosquito borne diseases.

How is this different from other mosquito-borne disease control initiatives?

Traditional methods of mosquito control include the reduction of breeding sites and application of pesticides, but it's difficult to have a sustainable impact using these techniques alone. Pesticides can be broadly toxic to the environment, and the emergence of insecticide resistance means they're becoming less effective over time. Targeting breeding sites is also a major challenge, because people can never find all the places mosquitoes live. Without effective vaccines for most mosquito-borne diseases, we have to target the mosquitoes that spread them.

Our approach is different because we are using data analytics, technology such as sensors and automation, and scientific expertise to scale the Sterile Insect Technique. We believe it could be far more effective than traditional methods while still being safe for humans and the environment. Plus, we can impact places that pesticides could never reach because the male mosquitoes we raise are finding the bad mosquitoes for us. You can read more about our method.

Are you targeting the vectors of other diseases or bugs in the future?

We're currently focused on the Aedes aegypti mosquito, but we hope to apply our approach to other insects in the future. Wolbachia techniques are already being studied on the Aedes albopictus (the “Asian tiger mosquito”) in limited field trials. We'll need to validate this with research.

Why can't your good bugs bite or breed, is it the bacteria or how you make them?

Male mosquitoes don't bite, they don't even have the mouth parts required. It's only the females who need to blood feed to lay eggs and reproduce. This is how wild female mosquitoes spread diseases, moving from person to person while feeding from each one, and that is why we think of female Aedes aegypti as bad bugs. The Wolbachia bacterium in our male mosquitoes does not stop them from finding and mating with wild females, which don't have Wolbachia, but does stop them producing offspring: the eggs from this mating don't hatch. This effect is called Cytoplasmic Incompatibility, and is what makes our released male mosquitoes effectively sterile.

Why start with the Aedes aegypti mosquito?

There are a number of reasons why Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—a carrier of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever—are a good place to begin for our approach to mass rearing and release. They live almost exclusively in close association with humans, don’t fly very far compared to some mosquito species, and are particularly difficult to attack using traditional methods like pesticides and source reduction of breeding sites. The diseases they transmit have a large and growing impact on human health. They’re also extensively studied in many labs around the world. We hope that what we learn with the Aedes aegypti in the field will be helpful to develop new ways of tackling other mosquitoes and their diseases.

What has Debug accomplished so far?

Debug has completed several field trials with promising results, and continues to partner with groups from around the globe to evaluate this approach. Elements of our rearing and releasing technology, along with the field trial designs and outcomes for our 2018 Fresno, CA study, were published in Nature Biotechnology in April 2020. You can stay up to date on our most recent efforts by following our blog.

How many mosquitoes do you expect to release? Will they bite people?

Our field trials involve rearing and releasing hundreds of thousands to millions of sterile, non-biting male mosquitoes per week to treat several neighborhoods. However, the number of mosquitoes required depends on the affected area and the number of wild mosquitoes there. When we select trial sites, we work with mosquito control experts and researchers. It's important to ensure we're releasing enough males to decrease the wild population effectively, and that we can successfully monitor the impact of or programs.

Male mosquitoes don’t bite, so residents within a trial area shouldn’t notice any increase in nuisance biting mosquitoes. We expect to see a population decrease within weeks to months of the initial releases. The number of released male mosquitoes should also reduce over time as the neighborhood population decreases.

What are the long term goals for this project?

Our long term goal for Debug is to make a substantial impact on mosquito-borne diseases. In addition to our SIT program, we hope that the technology we develop will help improve other vector control programs more broadly. We're looking forward to continuing to make progress with some great research and community partners.

We're looking forward to continuing to make progress with some great research and community partners.

Which partners do you work with?

We are fortunate to have worked with some of the world's premier research and government institutions including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and National Environment Agency (NEA) of Singapore—just to name a few. Follow our blog for the latest on our partnerships and activities.

Does Debug have any impact on communities? If so, how?

Debug is evaluating our approach with partners around the world. Communities in areas where field trials are taking place are likely to see a reduction in biting, female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes during the time period of releases.

Does the community have a say?

For all of our programs, we actively work with organizations like national and local governments, community leaders, and research institutes. Before we begin work in the field, we spend time with residents of that community with our partners to understand local concerns and considerations to ensure community assent before we proceed.

How long do you expect it to take to wipe out disease?

We are first looking to reduce mosquito populations below the level required to transmit disease. Since dormant Aedes aegypti eggs can remain in the environment for many months after removal of the adult population, we will continue to treat infested areas for at over time in order to demonstrate sustained local elimination of both mosquitoes and, hopefully, disease. We understand that diseases like dengue are complex and that it will take time to eliminate them from urban environments, but we're committed to helping the large international effort underway to make a difference to the health of millions.

What’s the ecological impact of reducing Aedes aegypti mosquito populations?

Globally, there are already extensive attempts underway to reduce Aedes aegypti populations in urban environments to protect human health. Aedes aegypti is an invasive species that almost exclusively feeds on humans in order to reproduce. They are native to some parts of Africa, but international trade and other human activity have allowed Aedes aegypti to spread widely. These mosquitoes invade and proliferate in new communities every year, putting more and more people at risk for mosquito-borne diseases.

The general consensus among scientists is that the ecological impact of removing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from urban environment would be small. They are not a significant food source for other animals and are invasive to many areas. The main ecological impact would be to restore the ecosystem to how it was before the mosquitoes invaded. Debug team is committed to working with communities and regulators to ensure the safety and acceptability of our field trials and releases.

How are you making sure you don't wipe out other insects that don't transmit disease in the process?

Male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are perfectly designed by nature to find females of the same species so they can mate and reproduce. This means that in contrast to some pesticides, the Sterile Insect Technique has no impact on other “good bugs” like honeybees or ladybugs, or even other mosquitoes.