A new, eco-friendly way to fight disease-spreading mosquitoes is in the process of being researched right now at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Graduate student Robert Moesch, who is in the first year of his doctoral studies in organic chemistry, and his advisor, SUNY-ESF professor Francis Webster, are working to recreate and confirm the structure of a new chemical compound.

The compound in question is a natural chemical that can be placed in water to attract mosquitoes to enable them to lay their eggs.

This compound was discovered by entomologist Dr. Colby Schal of North Carolina State University after he noticed that mosquitoes were consistently choosing certain pools of water over others to lay their eggs.

Webster and Moesch are now working to deconstruct the chemical structure and recreate it so more tests can be done. Also in that water would be a chemical called larvicide, which is harmless to humans but kills mosquito eggs.

“I tell people that I am trying to use the insect’s own inherent nature against it,” Moesch said. “They use chemicals to communicate and I am trying to use that process to control them. To get them to go where I want them to go and in turn hoping to stop any of their devastating impact.”

The compound was discovered several years ago, before the Zika disease was prevalent. But finding a safe way to control disease-carrying mosquito populations is always crucial because of the variety of mosquito-spread diseases, Webster said. That’s especially true, he added, after recent protests against the spraying of pesticides in Miami.

A major benefit of the method that Moesch and Webster are working on is that it involves only a natural compound and harmless larvicide, so no toxic chemicals have to be sprayed.

“I don’t think that this methodology could eradicate mosquitoes, but if they came preferentially to the puddles with this compound, then we could bring the population of mosquitoes in a given area way down,” Webster said. “The success we might have could bring the chance of infection down and could do so without having to use a lot of pesticides.”

Moesch’s research is being funded by the Semiconductor Research Center, which provides support for graduate students working toward technical degrees in areas that impact society. This is one of more than 180 scholarships given out by the SUNY-ESF College Foundation, Inc., according to SUNY-ESF’s website.

Moesch said the fellowship award has helped him immensely, especially between balancing research, school work and teaching.

Although they still have work to do, Webster said he hopes they will have the compound’s structure identified by the end of this semester. If results show that the compound is the one they think it is and they can recreate it successfully, then they will start to collaborate with other research teams.

Published on September 12, 2016 at 12:15 am

Contact Caroline: cbarthol@syr.edu