The Brock University scientist helping lead Canada’s research on Zika virus has been called to a global summit next month in Brazil, but first she will begin studies to see if Canadian mosquitoes can transmit the virus.
This week, carefully sealed containers of Zika arrived at Brock’s campus in St. Catharines, Ont., sent by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Over the next two weeks, medical entomologist Fiona Hunter and her research team will be growing the virus in cell culture so they can infect colony strains of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus with the virus. They will be testing whether the virus can be transmitted between male and female mosquitoes during mating, as well as whether female mosquitoes can pass the virus on to their eggs.
Brock University researcher Fiona Hunter allows non-infected mosquitoes to feed on her arm during a demonstration for the media Friday, Feb. 19. Hunter’s CL3 Containtment Lab at Brock University in St. Catharines is being used to research if Zika virus could spread through Canadian mosquitoes.
“We suspect that Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, may become established in Ontario within a few years, and that means we need to be proactive,” said Hunter. “We need to determine the optimal temperature for Zika virus replication in Aedes albopictus. That way we can predict where in Canada and when these temperatures may occur, according to global climate change models.”
Perhaps most importantly, Hunter and her students will be testing species of mosquitoes collected in Ontario this spring and summer to see if they are competent vectors of Zika virus. Hunter said that, globally, isolations of Zika virus have been made from more than 20 different species, not just Aedes aegypti as is often reported.
“The fact is, we do not know if local mosquitoes transmit the virus. With 67 different species in Ontario, we cannot say with certainty that we are risk-free unless we do the testing.”
The work is possible at Brock because of its CL3 containment lab that is equipped with an insectiary, the only such facility at a Canadian university. The CL3 is part of Brock’s Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex, a $120-million advanced facility opened in 2012.
Meanwhile, Hunter has just accepted an invitation to an international meeting March 13 in Maceio, Brazil. The conference — Crisis in the Americas: Joining Together to Address a Grand Challenge — aims to convene the world’s foremost entomology researchers as well as high-impact NGO and business attendees, all seeking ways to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Hunter said Brock has several internationally renowned scientists who could be part of the global solution, including Michael Bidochka, an expert on fungi, and Paul Zelisko, a chemist with experience identifying novel fungal compounds. One of Bidochka’s PhD students will be working in the CL3 with Hunter’s team, looking at fungal metabolites that have antiviral activities to see if any of the fungi might also produce compounds that can target Zika virus.
Nearly 15 years ago, Hunter was part of a team working with colleagues at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, to determine which mosquito species were vectors of West Nile virus.
“This seems a bit like déjà vu, getting ready to work on Zika virus!” she said.
Brock University researcher Darrell Agbulos unpacks vials of the Zika virus in Brock’s CL3 Containment lab.
Watch the full press conference below. The event itself starts at the 5-minute mark:
