The Christian Daily Paper

Creation Scientist Avishai N. Miller-David

Christian War on Malaria Initiative

Christian War on Malaria Initiative

Malaria is a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes. Thus, controlling
mosquitoes is the key to controlling malaria. Conventional approaches to
vector-control rely on broad-spectrum insecticides, but they are losing
their efficacy as mosquitoes develop resistance.
My plan is to develop male-specific chemosterilants for the principal
malaria mosquito in Sub-Saharan Africa, Anopheles gambiae. Our goal is
to apply the Sterile Insect Technique" (SIT) to A. gambiae by releasing
sterilized males to compete with wild mosquitoes for mates, thereby
reducing mosquito populations without the use of insecticides
The goal is to chemically sterilize the male Anopheles gambiae mosquito
to reduce the spread of malaria in Africa. The reason to target the male
is that only female mosquitoes bite people, so releasing sterilized males
poses no risk of disease. the current target is a male-specific enzyme
called A. gambiae transglutaminase, or AgTG3.
Transglutaminase bond proteins together to form a cross-linked mesh or
gel. The A. gambiae male uses AgTG3 to cross-link a protein called Plugin,
coagulating his semen into a gooey plug that he pushes into the female.
This mating plug is required for the female to store his sperm, so
chemical inhibitors of AgTG3 should be specific chemosterilants of A.
gambiae mosquitoes.

What is the significance of this?

Malaria is the worlds most devastating parasitic disease causing 1
million deaths per year, mostly children under the age of five in
Sub-Saharan Africa. The war against this disease is tough: there is
currently no vaccine, malaria parasites are developing resistance to
current antimalarial drugs, and insecticides. Therefore, we must develop
new tools to continue the fight to control, and eventually to eradicate,
malaria.

The Christian Daily Paper

Creation Scientist Avishai N. Miller-David
Christian War on Malaria Initiative

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has been successfully used to control
many insect pests including the cattle screwworm fly, the Mediterranean
fruit fly, and the tsetse fly. Yet SIT has never been successfully deployed
against malaria. This is largely due to logistical or regulatory barriers to
previous methods of sterilization: -irradiation and genetic modification.
Chemo-sterilization was successfully tested in mosquitoes as early as the
1970s, but never implemented due to environmental concerns related to
the chemicals involved. If successful, this has the potential to provide a
new class of specific and environmentally friendly chemicals to facilitate
the application of SIT in the fight against malaria.

Budget

$500 Labor costs

$100 Reagents

This better than spending millions of dollars of US Tax payer money as

the government does every year fighting malaria in Africa for 50 years
now and the number of death from Malaria are still up 1 million a year
die.