Mosquito Control Laboratory

There are no effective vaccines against malaria or most arboviruses. There are no chemotherapeutants for the treatment of arbovirus infection. Mosquito surveillance, management and manipulation remain the mainstays of most mosquito-borne disease control programs.

The Mosquito Control Laboratory (MCL) manages state-of-the art pathogen and insect containment facilities with the capacity to undertake studies on all aspects of vector biology and disease transmission. We work on innovations in mosquito surveillance and control that might help interrupt parasite and pathogen transmission.

We are unique in the Southern Hemisphere with regard to our size, capacity and expertise. This makes us a key partner in a national, regional and international network. Our presence significantly enhances Australia’s ability to investigate emerging vector-borne disease threats in the region. A major remit of MCL is to exploit our unique facility through building strong collaborative links with parasitology, virology and vector biology laboratories throughout the world.

The MCL has permission to hold a number of exotic mosquito species in addition to native Australian mosquitoes. These include insecticide-resistant and susceptible Aedes aegypti strains, Aedes albopictus and Anopheles stephensi. The MCL is able to perform mosquito vector competence assessments for globally emerging arboviruses, including dengue, Japanese encephalitis, Zika and chikungunya viruses, and for locally transmitted viruses; including Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses. We have field work in progress in Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas.

We have a broad funding base that includes local and federal government, the Australian NHMRC, the US Department of Defence, USAID, the Wellcome Trust and the UK Medical Research Council. We have been awarded approximately $5.5M AUD in funding since 2013.