Dr Rosemary Lees

Rosemary’s research group looks to identify issues with the methods used in the development and evaluation of insecticides and mosquito control tools and then seeks to address these gaps through the development of consensus protocols, experimental validation of new and existing methods. In discussion with stakeholders they work to map out key areas of concern and generate consensus on solutions. Consensus building around standardised methodologies is important to increase the robustness of data and improve decision making for deployment of vector control tools.

She is also interested in insecticide resistance mechanisms and their impacts on vector control, and works with industry partners to screen and evaluate the potential of new insecticides, formulations and products as well as application equipment and related technologies designed to overcome resistance. There is a demand for novel behavioural assays to investigate novel, non-lethal effects of insecticides alongside the traditional methods for measuring mortality after exposure.

For example, with new products coming to market which rely on volatile insecticides to repel and kill mosquitoes the group is working to develop and standardise a novel method to monitor resistance to volatile insecticides. These new methods will be critical in collecting baseline data and then monitoring for resistance in mosquito populations in study sites where new spatial repellent tools are being evaluated.