Human Odours Research

Developing highly attractive lures to support innovative malaria vector control strategies.

About the Human Odours Project

The Human Odours project investigates how mosquitoes respond to human-associated cues and explores the development of highly attractive lures that could enhance malaria vector control.

The research is focused on understanding mosquito attraction and developing practical approaches that can improve the effectiveness of vector surveillance and control tools.

Research Purpose

The project aims to develop super-attractive lures that can be used to enhance malaria vector control.

By identifying combinations of cues that strongly attract mosquitoes, researchers can investigate new opportunities for improving mosquito monitoring and control.

Why Human Odours?

Mosquitoes use a range of environmental and human-associated cues when locating people. Understanding these attraction mechanisms can help researchers design better mosquito lures.

The research therefore examines how different attractants can be combined to increase mosquito attraction.

Research Focus

The project combines mosquito behaviour research, semi-field experimentation and evaluation of different attractant combinations.

Semi-Field Research

The project includes semi-field experiments designed to evaluate mosquito behaviour under controlled conditions that provide a bridge between laboratory research and field environments.

Experiments have examined mosquito entry behaviour into resting boxes baited with different attractants.

Attractant Testing

Research has evaluated different combinations of attractants, including carbon dioxide, heat and human odour.

A combination containing these three cues showed strong mosquito attraction and is supporting further investigation.

Malaria Vector Research

Understanding mosquito behaviour is important for developing effective malaria vector control tools. The Human Odours project contributes to this work by investigating the cues that influence mosquito attraction and movement.

Continued experiments are being conducted to identify promising attractant combinations and assess their potential application in malaria vector control.

Research Leadership

The project is led by Drs. Conor McMeniman and Stephanie Turner at Johns Hopkins University together with Drs. Monicah Mburu and Edgar Simulundu at Macha Research Trust.

Collaborative Research

Collaboration between Macha Research Trust and Johns Hopkins researchers strengthens the project through complementary expertise in mosquito biology, vector control and field research.

Research Ethics & Regulatory Oversight

The project has received research approvals from the Institutional Review Boards at Macha Research Trust and Johns Hopkins University.

The project has also received relevant approvals from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency and the National Health Research Authority.

Responsible Research

Ethical and regulatory oversight supports responsible conduct of the research while ensuring that project activities comply with applicable research and environmental requirements.

Research Infrastructure

Macha Research Trust provides research infrastructure that supports laboratory, semi-field and field-based investigations into malaria vectors and their behaviour.

Publications & Research Outputs

Research from the Human Odours project contributes to the growing scientific evidence on mosquito behaviour, attractants and innovative malaria vector control approaches.

Explore Our Malaria Research

Discover more research projects conducted by Macha Research Trust to advance malaria prevention, surveillance and vector control.