Capability
Our insectary can produce 40,000 An. dirus and An. minimus per week. Our mosquitoes have high blood feeding rates, high infection rates and low mortality rates after being infected with malaria parasite. Our highly standardized insectary harbors a high volume of Anopheline mosquitoes and will always be ready for malaria vaccine testing, transmission studies, and large scaled sporozoite production for drug discovery projects.
Each year we can produce over 100,000 infected mosquito and over 10 billion sporozoites. Our live infected mosquitoes are shipped around the world with almost zero percent mortality once arrive at the final destination.
We have shipped our live infected mosquitoes domestically and internationally (USA, France, UK) for malaria research and vaccine trials. Our staff have provided guidance in setting up mosquito facilities worldwide.
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female An. dirus and An. minimus mosquitos produced per week
Over
hours
is the time our mosquitos travelled. Cargo class with 100% survival rate!
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publications
P. vivax sporozoits per year can be produced in our insectary
We developed and use some of the best molecular assays for malaria detection. Our toolbox includes genus- and species-specific qPCR, qRT-PCR, nested-PCR, and LAMP. Gametocyte detection is also a standard assay. When needed, our expert light microscopists can be called in to examine blood smears.
Higher sensitivity often lead to more contamination in many labs. To reduce contamination, our malaria diagnosis laboratory is located in its own room on a different floor, away from other active laboratories that handle parasite cultures and molecular cloning works.
We fully utilise the Qiagen-Tropmed Center for Molecular Techniques, a collaborative facility supported by the Faculty of Tropical Medicine and Qiagen, Thailand. The centre, led by Dr. Wang Nguitragool, is fully equipped with latest technology from QIAGEN. Automated molecular-based systems have made possible fast and reliable molecular analysis of malaria. The fast turnaround time is key to obtain real-time data for critical research and intervention purposes.
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manual dissection of mosquito salivary gland per hour per person.
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years
Of accumulated P.vivax research experience in our team
months
Of P. vivax in-vitro culture – longest
Field studies are necessary for closing the knowledge gap in malaria epidemiology and transmission. We work directly with the exposed populations in endemic areas. Over the past 30 years, we have conducted different types of studies in various sites in Thailand, including cross sectional surveys, cohort studies, passive case detection, active follow ups, and mosquito collection by human landing and traps.
These labs enable short-term in vitro culture, sophisticated sample processing, and mosquito infection experiments. They are also excellent teaching grounds for students and great retreat sites for investigators.
Because P. vivax cannot be maintained in the culture, malaria patients or infected carriers are the only sources of live parasites for research. Working with malaria clinic and local hospitals, we have established access to patients in endemic areas throughout Thailand. Our teams have been deployed to the Thai-Myanmar, Thai-Cambodia, and Southern regions to collect fresh parasites. With our technical and logistical knowhow, we have achieved reliable mosquito infection and short-term blood stage culture for malaria research.