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

埃及伊蚊最近因传播寨卡病毒而在国际上声名狼藉，导致一种与出生时患有小头畸形症和其他健康问题的婴儿有关的疾病。这种昆虫也是传播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。埃及伊蚊媒介在地理上的扩张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媒疾病的关注的问题。寨卡病毒爆发后，世界卫生组织批准试行改良蚊子作为一种新的病媒控制工具。该项目对学生进行实证、科学数据收集和分析方法的培训，探索了几种这样的修改埃及伊蚊的试点努力。此外，它将扩大科学中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，并通过向参与蚊媒疾病公共卫生政策的组织广泛传播研究结果，提高公众的科学理解。路易莎·卡斯特罗将在麻省理工学院的斯特普凡·海姆里奇博士的监督下，探索不同的修改埃及伊蚊的模式，目的是评估不同的标量方法是否影响对健康结果和人类过程的理解。国际和当地媒体将巴西列为2016年寨卡疫情的震中。在过去的几年里，该国也一直在与登革热、基孔肯雅热和黄热病疫情作斗争。然而，这些疾病不仅仅是像巴西这样的地方病流行国家的问题。这项研究将在巴西的不同地区进行，以人种学的方式调查三个致力于从生物学上改造埃及伊蚊的科学项目，以便利用它们来控制这些昆虫的当地种群。每个项目都实施了一种不同类型的改造：一个项目用沃尔巴克氏菌感染埃及伊蚊，以抑制蚊子传播病毒的能力；另一个项目照射蚊子使其绝育；然而，第三个项目对蚊子进行基因工程，以限制其繁殖。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以及围绕其实施的想象力和正当逻辑的数据。在60-75人的样本中，以人为中心的访谈是心理人类学中经常使用的一种技术。她还将调查转基因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。她还将关注参与这些项目的人的专业经验和培训，并观察科学家、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框定他们的政治立场和个人抱负。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。它将提供关于人为过程的社会文化驱动因素以及为减轻其影响而提出的解决方案的分析思考的特殊性。该项目旨在围绕蚊子传播的疾病发展一种历史知识的健康批判理论，认真对待影响这些互动的环境动态、政治和社会权力关系。在人们对蚊子传播的疾病日益感到焦虑，以及如何控制这些疾病的解决方案不断涌现的时候，一个丰富的人种学描述可以促进制定更全面、更反思和更有效的政策的辩论。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.