About
Associate Professor Gregor Devine came to Brisbane in 2013 to lead the Mosquito Control Laboratory. He is a medical entomologist with a strong background in operational research and research translation in disease endemic settings. He has over 15 years’ experience in South America, East Africa and North Queensland and has worked in academia and the government health sector. His work focuses on mosquito vectors of disease with an emphasis on control, surveillance, ecology and investigations of vectorial capacity. Greg is on the steering committee of the New Ireland Malaria Alliance (NIPMA) that seeks malaria elimination in that region. He is Chair of the Commonwealth’s Aedes albopictus quarantine initiative in the Torres Strait and President of the Mosquito and Arbovirus Research Committee (MARC) that promotes and funds research on vector control and arbovirus surveillance. Greg has adjunct Associate Professorships at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology.
Area of Interest
There are no vaccines and few drugs available for combating mosquito borne diseases like malaria, dengue, Zika and chikungunya. Mosquito surveillance, management and manipulation remain the mainstays of most disease control programs. The Mosquito Control Laboratory focuses on operational research, translation and implementation in relation to mosquito vectors of disease. Broadly, we characterize, monitor and manipulate the entomological determinants of arbovirus and malaria transmission. The lab focuses on applied research. We characterize, monitor and manipulate the entomological determinants of arbovirus and malaria transmission. Our emphases include: i) the pathways, risks and costs of mosquito invasions; ii) impacts of species, strain and environment on vector competence and vectorial capacity; iii) novel means of insecticide delivery (autodissemination, spatial repellents) and iv) new technologies for surveillance (smart traps, Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy, genomic characterisation of mosquito ecology). Our work is facilitated by QIMRB’s unique PC2 and PC3 insectaries and access to disease-endemic field sites.