COMSATS University Islamabad students are working on a proposal to turn mosquitos into vaccine-carrying syringes. While this occurrence appears to be new, it actually dates back to 2011, when a group of Japanese researchers came up with the notion of turning mosquitoes, the disease’s super-spreaders, into flying vaccines.
When mosquitoes bite, they inject a little drop of saliva into our bloodstream, which prevents it from clotting. That set of scientists injected an antigen — a substance that causes the immune system to respond – into the mix of proteins in their saliva.
To generate antibodies, mice have to be bitten at least 1500 times every day on average. Despite this, the researchers were unable to ascertain if the antibodies would be sufficient to prevent infection in a human body.
Professor Dr. Muhammad Tabassum Afzal, the Rector of COMSATS University, announced this during a session of the Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology on Wednesday.
The Rector informed the committee that varsity students are conducting research on mosquitoes in order to transform them into vaccine speeders rather than disease carriers.
While past studies on the phenomenon did not seem to be viable, it would be interesting to watch how COMSATS students made it happen.
