Approaches to controlling disease-carrying insects might include inhibiting the development of virus in the mosquito or altering the insects' lifespan so that they die before they can transmit disease. A major challenge to this approach, however, is ensuring that such strategies are effective, safe, and socially and environmentally acceptable. 
 
Dr. James is leading an international team of scientists that is seeking to develop methods of controlling the transmission of dengue viruses using genetic techniques, including those that may block virus transmission by mosquitoes and reduce or eliminate populations of mosquitoes that transmit the virus. 
 
Investigators have begun to analyze locally collected mosquitoes to get baseline data on ecology and reproductive rates, survey species breeding within communities, and obtain specimens to assess the structure of local populations. Surveys of mosquito ecology and dengue epidemiology in the Tapachula area show a variety of dengue serotypes detected in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.  Investigators will mediate developmentally-regulated transposition in mosquitoes, for transposon-based strategies. Alternative gene drive systems are also being assessed, particularly the Medea system developed in Drosophila melanogaster.  The team is also pursuing promoters capable of expressing RNAi in the salivary glands, as a backup to expression in the midgut.