USAPHC (Prov) master consultant entomologist Brian Zeichner won the 2011 Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer from the Federal Laboratory Consortium™. The award was presented May 5 at the FLC National Meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
Zeichner and fellow scientist Michael Perich of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research used, in Zeichner's words, the "female mosquito's irrepressible urge to oviposit" to develop a trap with conventional methods of controlling the population of container-breeding mosquitoes that carry dengue fever and other diseases that threaten forces deployed to tropical and sub-tropical environments, according to the award citation.
There was a need to find a new method for controlling the mosquito population, according to Zeichner.
They developed a lethal mosquito ovitrap consisting of a pint-sized container filled with water with a strip treated with a small amount of pesticide material. When the female mosquito enters the trap to deposit eggs both she and any larvae produced are killed.
"The population of biting mosquitoes is reduced and thus the potential for disease transmission and the potential breeding stock for the next generation are reduced," explained Zeichner.
The technology, protected by several patents, was field test at WRAIR with results of up to 100 percent adult mosquito mortality, he said.
Under a Co-operative Research and Development Agreement, Zeichner worked with a small U.S. company to design a commercial version of the ovitrap for mass marketing. The Office of Research and Technology Applications at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command negotiated an exclusive, worldwide license with the company, USAPHC (Prov) (formerly U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine), and WRAIR.
The Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer is presented annually by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer. It recognizes laboratory employees who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring a technology developed by a federal laboratory to the commercial marketplace.
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