by Dr. Véronique Paris has a very practical approach for your research. She pushes her naked arm into a special cage and lets hundreds of mosquitoes bite – everything in the name of science.
“For most I feed, I only feel a little sensation,” says the Medical Entomologist at the University of Melbourne. “Some species have a little more mechanical feeling.”
She describes the humming cage of mosquitoes as her “colony” and “to ensure that they stay healthy”, Paris feeds her blood about once a week.
“If I want to do an experiment or want to collect more eggs for upcoming work, this can increase to about four times a week.”
Their research focuses on reducing the transfer of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes to humans, such as the carnivorous Buruli ulcer, that if they are not treated, it can lead to distortion and tissue loss.
Paris is happy to share your work – and methods – with your community of 13,000 followers on Instagram.
The 35-year-old says she is on Instagram and professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn or even Bluesky to “reach people who are not necessarily looking for scientific content”.
“[It] Was very worthwhile and there are many people who ask many questions, ”she says.
Paris’ interest in Mosquito research began when she did his doctorate at the University of Melbourne after moving to Australia from Germany.
“I wanted to do something for the local community and understand local mosquitoes [and] Local diseases such as Ross River Virus and Buruli Ulkus. “
According to the Victorian Ministry of Health, Buruli Ulcer has risen sharply in recent years in recent years, from 135 in 2020 to 238 at the end of 2023.
The disease that spreads into Victoria can also be found in the northern Queensland and in the Northern Territory.
While Possums have long been suspected of playing a role in the spread of Buruli Ulkus, a study from 2024 provided the first strong evidence that combine mosquitoes with their transmission.
Paris and other researchers try to find out how exactly mosquitoes grasp the pathogen and transferred to humans.
Paris said she was shocked when she saw her scientific colleagues fed her blood for the first time. “I planned great experiments and wanted to have my own mosquito colony, so I felt that I wanted to try at least once to see if that’s something I can do.”
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Now it is part of your weekly labororrutine.
“My body has certainly adapted … I can feed a cage mosquito and then it itchy immediately afterwards, and then I have to be good if I don’t scratch, so I delete about an hour.”
Researchers who feed their own colonies are not mandatory, says Paris. “There will always be volunteers who can, so nobody has to feed mosquitoes if they don’t want it, and that’s perfectly fine.”
But outside the laboratory it is a completely different story to be involuntarily bitten by mosquitoes.
Paris says that if a mosquito bites her in the garden on the ankle, it could itch for days.
Each bite is different, depending on the location of your body and the types of mosquitoes that bite, she says.
There are about 300 types of mosquitoes in Australia how much they itchy from the person they bite, she explains and adds that the bump and itching are caused by a person’s immune response, so that it is very specific.
Your top tip? Do not scratch the bite because it only makes the itching worse.
