Globally, up to a million people die each year due to deaths caused by malaria.
Bill Gates is going to fund a new research where genetically modified mosquitoes may help eradicate malaria from the face of the earth. He is said to be investing around $4 million into this research.
The plan is to release genetically-modified male mosquitoes into the wild where they will seek out females to mate with. When the mosquitoes mate, the male will pass on a self-limiting gene, meaning their female offspring will die before reaching adulthood, according to a report by RT.
Scientists have demonstrated that gene drives combined with a powerful gene-editing technique called Crispr/Cas9 can cause the rapid spread of genes for malaria resistance in a laboratory population of the Anopheles mosquito, one of the principal carriers of malaria in Asia.
A UK-based company, Oxitec, has developed the mosquitoes for the process. The company has received funds from Gates earlier as well. The company also created modified mosquitoes to combat Zika virus and dengue. The company informs that the new strain of mosquitoes for malaria will be ready for trials by 2020.