Brazilian Luciano Andrade Moreira was chosen by Nature magazine as one of ten people in the world who will shape science in 2025. The agronomist was credited for leading the study that developed the “Wolbachia method.” The technique consists of using the natural bacteria of the same name in the mosquito Aedes aegypti to block the transmission of viruses such as dengue, zika and chikungunya.
Nature is a British scientific journal in circulation since 1869 and considered the most cited in the world. In 2023, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, was also included in Nature’s 10, for her work against deforestation in the legal Amazon.
According to the journal, “scientists still don’t understand the mechanism, but the bacteria could compete with the virus for resources or stimulate the production of antiviral proteins.” According to research, mosquitoes carrying the bacteria are less likely to contract these viruses, but they do not transmit them.
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mosquito factory
To this end, Moreira created a real wolf factory, in Curitiba (PR), in partnership between Fiocruz, the Institute of Molecular Biology of Paraná (IBMP) and the World Mosquito Program (WMP), a non-profit organization operating in 14 countries.
“Millions of mosquitoes Aedes aegypti they breed in a temperature-controlled room filled with wire cages. Every week, the facility produces more than 80 million mosquito eggs,” the publication highlights.
Moreira’s interest in mosquitoes began in the late 1990s, during his postdoctoral studies in Cleveland, Ohio (USA). There, Moreira helped develop the first genetically modified mosquito to block malaria transmission.
Today, the Ministry of Health is already using the Wolbachia Method in the cities where cases of arbovirus are highest in recent years: Balneário de Camboriú (SC), Brasília (DF), Blumenau (SC), Joinville (SC), Luziânia (GO) and Valparaíso de Goiás (GO).
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