Who we are

Company Director, Frederic Tripet is a professor in Medical and Molecular Entomology and  Director of the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele University in the UK and visiting honorary Professor at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. He holds a doctorate in Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Bern, Switzerland, complemented by postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology and Population Genetics from the University of California Los Angeles, University of Texas Medical Branch and University of California Davis. He has over 25 years of research experience focusing on blood feeding arthropods such as fleas, sandflies, triatomine bugs and mosquitoes. His current collaborative research partnerships with major vector endemic countries span five continents and focus on mosquito species that transmit global human pathogens, such as Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika, with a view on developing novel tools and sustainable interventions for their control. F. Tripet has overseen the construction of Insect and/or pathogen containment facilities in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and the UK.

Dr Fredros Okumu is director of Science at Ifakara Health Institute; associate professor of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; and an honorary research fellow at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow. Since 2008, Dr Okumu has been studying human-mosquito interactions and developing new techniques to complement existing malaria interventions and accelerate efforts towards elimination. His other interests include quantitative ecology of residual malaria vectors; mathematical simulations to predict effectiveness of interventions, improved housing for marginalised communities, and prevention of child malnutrition.

Dr Abdoulaye Diabate is Professor in Vector Ecology and head of the Vector Biology Department at the Institut des Sciences de la Santé, Bobo Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso. He received a PhD degree from the University of Montpellier and spent four years as a postdoc fellow at NIH in the US. His research contributions to the field of applied vector ecology have been recognized through various national and international prestigious awards.

His research interests proceed along two different but complementary directions. First, the first involves mosquito insecticide resistance and its management; and the second focuses on mosquito population biology and ecology. He is particularly interested in mosquito male biology and related transgenic and sterile male approaches to control vector diseases as well as novel trap designs as alternatives or to complement chemical approaches.

Dr Wan Fatma is an Associate Professor in Entomology and Parasitology at Universiti Sains Malaysia. She holds a doctorate (PhD) in Ecology and Evolutionary from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and a master degree (MSc.) from Universiti Sains Malaysia in Applied Entomology. She has more than 20 years of research experience on vector-borne diseases, which focuses more on mosquitoes. The main field is integrated vector management using green sustainable approaches, chemical and biological controls of mosquito vectors, resistance and susceptibility of mosquito vectors, and vector behaviour.

She has in-depth knowledge and skill in vector management and current collaborative partnership across Asian countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and India. She currently serves as the president of the Entomological Society of Malaysia (ENTOMA) and the technical working team of the Ministry of Health Malaysia on insecticide resistance.

Jayme Souza-Neto

Regional adviser Brazil

Dr. Souza-Neto is an assistant professor in molecular biology and genetics based at São Paulo State University (UNESP) with postdoctoral training in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA. For the past 15 years, Dr. Souza has dedicated his research to studying mosquito-pathogens interactions and is particularly interested in designing innovative vector-based disease control tools using mosquito immunity genes or symbionts. He is a visiting assistant professor at Keele University, UK and former Vice-Director of the UNESP Institute of Biotechnology. Dr Souza-Neto has served on several vector control and viral epidemic response committees including the GLOPID-R Vector Control Working Group and the MRC and CIHR/IDRC Zika panels (2016). Currently, he is a member of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Zika Virus Research Program, Vice-President of the UNESP COVID-19 Scientific Committee and Coordinator of the UNESP Genomic Surveillance Network for SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Dr Lanzaro is a professor in vector biology with over 30-year experience in collaborative research with institutions based in countries endemic for tropical diseases. G. Lanzaro is a world-leading researcher in the areas of population & molecular genetics, genomics and bioinformatics of insect vectors of human and animal disease. Over the years, he has worked on various vectors with a particular focus on new-world sandflies and the African malaria mosquitoes. He is currently based the Veterinary School at the University California Davis, where he formerly assumed the role of  Director of the Centre for Vector-Borne Diseases. Prior to that Greg Lanzaro was based at the WHO collaborating centre for Tropical Diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. His current research programmes are aimed at expanding knowledge that can be applied to improving control of disease vectors. He has a particular interest in genetic biocontrol approaches and integrated pest management.

Dr Roberto Galizi is a group leader based at the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele University in the UK. His research is focused on the development of innovative solutions for the eradication of vector-borne diseases. Over the last few years Dr Galizi has developed several genetic vector controll technologies for the eradication of the deadly malaria-transmitting mosquitoes and new methods for the elucidation of the mechanisms regulating mosquito reproduction. Dr Galizi’s current research combines molecular and synthetic biology, functional genetics and genetic engineering to investigate insect reproduction and generate novel molecular tools for the genetic control of pests and disease transmission.

Naomi Forrester-Soto

Technical adviser BSL arthropod and pathogen containment facilities

Dr. Forrester-Soto is an arbovirologist with 15 years of experience working with mosquito-borne viruses. She is an expert in mosquito surveillance, virus sequencing and experimental infections of arboviruses in both mosquitoes and small vertebrates within high containment environments. She has 7 years’ experience as Associate Director of the Biosafety Level 3 laboratories at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX, USA. She has also helped design and bring online a Containment level 3 schedule 5 laboratory for handling arthropod-borne viruses such as Dengue, Chikungunya, Yellow fever and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis at the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele University. She has unique experience navigating the regulations regarding safe working practices in containment in both the US and UK.

Lizette Koekemoer

Regional advisor Southern Africa

Dr Lizette Koekemoer is a research professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.  She has a research interest in molecular systematics, insecticide resistance, vector biology, development of novel vector control tools or interventions and studies on mosquito-parasite transmission blocking targets. Currently she is the co-director of the Wits Research Institute for Malaria (WRIM) and head of the Medical Entomology Research Group within WRIM. Lizette has been involved in several projects to build entomology capacity in control programs in southern Africa.

Dr Koekemoer holds the NRF/SARChI chair in Medical Entomology and Vector Control since 2019.  She participates on international committees for the World Health Organization, the International Anatomic Energy Agency and the European Molecular Biology Organization. She received the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientists Award in Ethiopia in 2020.

Ashraf M. Ahmed

Regional adviser Middle-East

Dr. Ashraf M. Ahmed is a professor of Medical Entomology at Zoology Department, Minia University, Egypt, currently based at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He has a PhD in medical entomology from Keele University, UK, where is a Research Fellow since 2004, and he is a Research Fellow of the Royal Society, UK. His main research interest is mosquito immunity to pathogens  such as malaria and arboviruses and biocontrol. His research aims at utilizing bio-agents as well as the immunity of mosquito vectors for tackling mosquito-borne diseases. He has ongoing projects on the control of mosquito vectors exploring the use of novel molecules identified from toxins produced by soil bacteria and symbionts in nematodes. Dr Ashraf is particularly interested in developing novel biocontrol agents active against locally-important mosquito vectors of Dengue, Zika and Rift Valley fever such as Aedes caspius, Culex tritaeniorhynchus as well as Aedes aegypti responsible for urban dengue outbreaks.

Maria Helena Silva-Filha

Technical adviser biocontrol

Dr. Maria Helena Silva-Filha is a researcher from the Department of Entomology of Instituto Aggeu Magalhaes, a unit of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) located in Recife, Brazil, since 1997. She has a doctorate on the action of mosquitocidal toxins produced by entomopathogenic bacteria, from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie/Institut Pasteur (France). Her research focuses on the mode of action of microbial larvicides, characterization of mosquito resistance to their insecticidal toxins, and biocontrol management strategies for their rational use. Over the last 30 years her group has aimed to support the sustainable utilization of biological larvicides along with other approaches in integrated mosquito control programmes in North-Eastern Brazil. Maria Helena Silva-Filha has a number of collaborations on these topics with other research groups from Brazil, other South-American countries and overseas. She regularly takes part in technical-scientific advisory activities as part of academic committees and for research funding agencies.