--- title: Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Could Lower Malaria Rates description: Using a new gene-editing technique, scientists have found a way to permanently alter the genome of mosquitoes so they can’t spread malaria canonical: https://time.com/4125851/mosquitoes-genetically-resistant-to-malaria/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-24T17:25:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:52:54.329Z article:section: Health og:title: Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Could Curb Malaria og:description: Using a new gene-editing technique, scientists have found a way to permanently alter the genome of mosquitoes so they can’t spread malaria og:url: https://time.com/4125851/mosquitoes-genetically-resistant-to-malaria/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc59894c8386fcec0/69887291cd1bba70f06fe403/gettyimages-479801061.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5100 og:image:height: 2869 og:image:alt: 479801061 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Could Curb Malaria twitter:description: Using a new gene-editing technique, scientists have found a way to permanently alter the genome of mosquitoes so they can’t spread malaria twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc59894c8386fcec0/69887291cd1bba70f06fe403/gettyimages-479801061.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Researchers Have Created Malaria-Resistant Mosquitoes > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Nov 24, 2015 5:25 PM UTC  Mosquito biting Mosquito biting Roger Eritja—Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Nov 24, 2015 5:25 PM UTC If there’s an organism that should get credit for finding ingenious ways to survive it’s the malaria parasite. It exploits the mobile and blood-feeding mosquito as its transportation, hitching rides on the insects that live by feeding on the blood of human and animal hosts. As the insect feeds, the malaria parasite decamps and selfishly moves on to the more fertile host, quickly infecting new cells and finding every opportunity to reproduce and spew out more progeny. Now researchers report they’ve found a way to make the mosquito a less hapless host. Using a new gene-editing technique that allows them to slice the genome in very locations and splice in new genetic material, [two teams report in PNAS](http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1521077112) that they have created a mosquito that not only is resistant to infection with _Plasmodium falciparum_ but can pass this resistance on to its offspring. **MORE:** [The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got a Big Break](http://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/) Anthony A. James and his colleagues at the University of California Irvine developed a way to splice in a gene that helps the mosquito pump out antibodies to the parasite, while Valentino Gantz and Ethan Bier from the University of California San Diego found a way to perpetuate that resistance to future generations of mosquitos. James relied on a [cutting edge new technology called CRISPR/Cas9](http://time.com/3822554/emmanuelle-charpentier-jennifer-doudna-2015-time-100/), which allows him to develop the genetic equivalent of a dotted outline in the mosquito’s genome that molecular scissors can then cut out. Finding the right place to cut the mosquito genome is critical, so whatever genes are then stitched in can be produced in large enough quantities without affecting the insect’s other processes. James inserted a sequence that turns on robust production of anti-malaria antibodies. **MORE:** [‘Super Mosquito’ Resistant to Malaria Insecticide Found in Mali](http://time.com/3665258/super-mosquito-mali-malaria/) Simply inserting the genes that produce antibodies to Plasmodium would help to prevent some mosquitoes from passing on malaria when they bite people. But to really lower infection rates in places like sub Saharan Africa where a quarter of the population is at risk of infection, the scientists wanted to take an additional step and find a way for the mosquitoes to pass along the resistance so scientists wouldn’t have to attempt to genetically alter hundreds or even thousands of insect larvae. To accomplish that, Gantz and Bier manipulated something called the gene drive, a sequence of DNA that can be copied from a male onto the female’s chromosome and thus assure that the genetic material — in this case the malaria resistance genes — is being passed on to their offspring. **MORE:** [Researchers Find New Way to Kick Out HIV From Infected Cells](http://time.com/3012981/hiv-drug-aids-virus-splice/) It’s an important first step toward what could potentially be an efficient way to render mosquitoes essentially useless hosts. But nature is just as clever, and the researchers say that the female mosquitoes have a genetic block to the gene drive process that could limit the efficiency of pushing the anti-malaria antibodies onto their progeny. If additional studies show the gene-editing and gene drive strategy are safe and feasible, it could represent an important milestone in controlling a devastating disease that kills half a million people each year globally. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4125851/mosquitoes-genetically-resistant-to-malaria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4125851/mosquitoes-genetically-resistant-to-malaria/"},"headline":"Researchers Have Created Malaria-Resistant Mosquitoes","datePublished":"2015-11-24T17:25:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:52:54.329Z","description":"Using a new gene-editing technique, scientists have found a way to permanently alter the genome of mosquitoes so they can’t spread malaria","url":"https://time.com/4125851/mosquitoes-genetically-resistant-to-malaria/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","Genetics","Genes","Malaria","Mosquitoes","crispr"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc59894c8386fcec0/69887291cd1bba70f06fe403/gettyimages-479801061.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc59894c8386fcec0/69887291cd1bba70f06fe403/gettyimages-479801061.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"479801061","caption":"479801061","creditText":"Roger Eritja—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4125851/mosquitoes-genetically-resistant-to-malaria/","name":"Researchers Have Created Malaria-Resistant Mosquitoes"}}]}] ```