Doctoral Dissertation Research: Vectors of Health: Science and the Making of Modified Mosquitoes

博士论文研究：健康媒介：科学与改良蚊子的制造

• 批准号: 1823376
• 负责人: Stefan Helmreich
• 金额: $ 0.99万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2019-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1823376&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Vectors; Health

Aedes aegypti rose to international notoriety most recently for transmitting the Zika virus, causing a disease linked to babies born with microcephaly and other health issues. This insect species is also a vector for other viral diseases, including dengue, chikungunya, and urban yellow fever. The geographical expansion of the vector A. aegypti and the interconnectedness of the planet are all matters that increase the concern about mosquito-borne diseases in global attempts to govern and secure life. In the wake of the Zika outbreak, the World Health Organization endorsed pilot implementations of modified mosquitoes as a new vector control tool. The project, which trains a student in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, explores several such pilot efforts to modify A. aegypti. Further, it would broaden the participation of groups underrepresented in science, build capacity and scientific infrastructure through international scientific cooperation, and enhance public scientific understanding by broadly disseminating findings to organizations engaged in public health policies for mosquito-borne diseases.Luisa Castro, under the supervision of the Dr. Stepfan Helmreich of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will explore different models of modifying A. aegypti, with the aim of evaluating whether different scalar approaches impact understandings of health outcomes and anthropogenic processes. International and local media marked Brazil as the epicenter of the 2016 Zika epidemic. In the last years, the country has also been struggling with dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever outbreaks. However, these diseases are not only a problem for endemic countries like Brazil. This research will be conducted in different regions in Brazil, in order to ethnographically investigate three scientific projects that strive biologically to modify A. aegypti in order to deploy them to control local populations of these insects. Each project implements a different type of modification: one infects A. aegypti with the Wolbachia bacterium to curtail the mosquito's ability to transmit viruses; the other irradiates the mosquito to sterilize it; and yet, a third genetically engineers the mosquito to limit its reproduction. By accompanying researchers and workers in their daily practices between lab and field, the researcher will collect data on the efforts to develop these technologies, and the imaginaries and justificatory logics that surround their implementation. Person-centered interviews, a technique used frequently in psychological anthropology, among a sample of 60-75. She will also investigate how modified mosquitoes conform and rearrange Brazilian policies for controlling mosquito-borne diseases, historically oriented around human behavioral reforms and toxic chemicals. Being attentive to the professional experiences and training of those involved in these projects, she will also observe how scientists, lab workers, and government officials assess methodologies, formulate theoretical engagements, and frame their political positions and personal aspirations in their goal to transform research into health applications. This project proposes to trace the confluence of natural, scientific, and political agendas, practices, and strategies, particularly in the context of diseases. It will provide specificity to analytical reflections on social-cultural drivers of anthropogenic processes and the solutions proposed to mitigate their effects. The project aims to develop a historically-informed critical theory of health around mosquito-borne diseases that takes seriously the environmental dynamics, politics, and social power relations that inform these interactions. In times of growing anxieties about mosquito-borne diseases, and burgeoning solutions of how to control them, an ethnographically rich account can contribute to debates to develop more comprehensive, reflective, and effective policies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

埃及伊蚊最近因传播寨卡病毒而在国际上声名狼藉，寨卡病毒导致一种与出生时患有小头畸形和其他健康问题的婴儿有关的疾病。这种昆虫也是其他病毒性疾病的媒介，包括登革热、基孔肯雅热和城市黄热病。媒介埃及伊蚊的地理扩展和地球的相互联系都是在全球治理和保障生命的努力中增加对蚊子传播疾病的关注的事项。寨卡病毒爆发后，世界卫生组织批准了转基因蚊子的试点实施，将其作为一种新的媒介控制工具。该项目对一名学生进行经验、科学数据收集和分析方法的培训，探索了几项改造埃及伊蚊的试点工作。此外，它将扩大在科学领域代表性不足的群体的参与，通过国际科学合作建设能力和科学基础设施，并通过向从事蚊媒疾病公共卫生政策的组织广泛传播研究结果，增进公众对科学的了解。在麻省理工学院stephan Helmreich博士的指导下，Luisa Castro将探索改造埃及伊蚊的不同模型，目的是评估不同的数量方法是否会影响对健康结果和人为过程的理解。国际和当地媒体将巴西列为2016年寨卡疫情的中心。在过去几年中，该国还一直在与登革热、基孔肯雅热和黄热病疫情作斗争。然而，这些疾病不仅仅是巴西等流行国家的问题。这项研究将在巴西的不同地区进行，目的是从民族志上调查三个科学项目，这些项目努力从生物学上改造埃及伊蚊，以便将它们部署到控制这些昆虫的当地种群。每个项目都实施了不同类型的改造：一个项目用沃尔巴克氏菌感染埃及伊蚊，以削弱蚊子传播病毒的能力；另一种是对蚊子进行辐射消毒；然而，第三种方法是通过基因工程来限制蚊子的繁殖。通过陪同研究人员和工作人员在实验室和现场之间进行日常实践，研究人员将收集有关开发这些技术的努力的数据，以及围绕其实施的想象和合理逻辑。以人为中心的访谈，一种在心理人类学中经常使用的技术，在60-75个样本中。她还将研究改造后的蚊子如何符合和重新安排巴西控制蚊媒疾病的政策，这些政策历来以人类行为改革和有毒化学物质为导向。她将关注参与这些项目的人员的专业经验和培训，并将观察科学家、实验室工作人员和政府官员如何评估方法，制定理论参与，并在将研究转化为卫生应用的目标中构建他们的政治立场和个人愿望。该项目建议追踪自然、科学和政治议程、实践和战略的汇合，特别是在疾病的背景下。它将为对人为过程的社会文化驱动因素的分析反思以及为减轻其影响而提出的解决办法提供特异性。该项目旨在围绕蚊媒疾病发展一种历史知情的健康批判理论，认真对待环境动态、政治和社会权力关系，为这些相互作用提供信息。在人们对蚊子传播的疾病日益焦虑，以及如何控制它们的解决方案不断涌现的时代，一本丰富的民族志著作可以促进讨论，以制定更全面、更深思熟虑、更有效的政策。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。