Entomology

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    Nationalestraat 155

    2000 Antwerpen

    Belgium

Organisation profile

Organisation profile

The research portfolio of the Unit of Entomology is fully in line with three “ITM Priority Research Themes 2020-2024 ”:  Challenge  1:  Emerging  infections  and  outbreaks;  Challenge  3.  Disease  Elimination;  and  Challenge  5. Sustaining health in a rapidly changing world.

Introduction

The Unit of Entomology, led by Prof Ruth Müller, aims to better understand the relationships between biodiversity, climate change and human health and to use this knowledge to control vector-borne diseases.

Our guiding questions are simple:

 

Our research lines 

  • Vector ecology: The understanding of vector ecology is fundamental for successful vector surveillance, vector prevention and vector control. We are using a multi-disciplinary approach to study the interaction of vector species and the environment in different regions of the world, and with a special focus on climate change.
  • Vector biology: This interdisciplinary research line will generate a new understanding of the functional biology of larval competition, swarming & mating behavior, arboviral infections, and provide crucial knowledge about the mechanisms that underlie the fecundity and vector competence of vector species.
  • Innovative vector control: Vector control is the applied part of our research portfolio and comprises trap development, development and assessment of biological, chemical and genetic vector control tools and the assessment of intervention studies. We test multiple approaches for vector control and test their usefulness for application, efficiency and social acceptance.
 

Main activities

  •  Our research encompasses the monitoring of (exotic) mosquitoes in Belgium and abroad, vector biological and vector ecological studies in the field and laboratory, testing and assessment of vector control tools, and contributing to intervention studies.
  • We are looking in depth at the link between environment and mosquito-borne disease risks at ecological and social level in order to develop ecoregion specific vector control strategies and specific communication tools.
  • We inform the government, private companies and citizens on exotic mosquitoes in Belgium and Germany, and insect-borne mosquitoes in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
  • In the South, we collaborate with governmental and academic stakeholders and specifically provide training and expertise on entomological surveillance, integrative vector control strategies and assessment of the efficiency of vector-borne disease interventions.
  • We inform governmental, private and academic stakeholders and citizens about the link of biodiversity and health and advise them on the link of vector-pathogen-host interactions and the environment and social factors in the special context of climate change.

Have a closer look to our projects

Discover our research on the ecology of mosquitoes

  • Our insectary
  • Larval competition of mosquitoes
  • The swarming behavior of mosquitoes
  • Plant-mosquito interactions

Help us to find exotic mosquitoes in Belgium

  • Monitoring projects in Belgium
  • Citizen Science
  • Mosquito identification
  • Mosquito monitoring - traps

Learn about the complexity of vector control

  • Biological vector control - Mosquito predators
  • Chemical vector control / Insecticide resistance
  • Genetic vector control
  • Intervention studies

Explore our entomological research in the Global South

  • Nepal
  • Peru
  • DRC
  • Burundi
  • Morocco
  • Outbreak Research Team

Our infection studies and pathogen screening in insects

  • Arboviral infections of mosquitoes
  • Plasmodium infections of mosquitoes
  • Pathogen screening in sandflies & mosquitoes
  • Learn more about the infection studies with sandflies and tsetse flies of the Insectary Core Group at ITM

Familiarize with projects aiming for harmonized monitoring of vector-borne diseases in Europe and around the world

  • VectorNet
  • MOOD

 

Contact

Please do not hesitate to mail to: [email protected] to for more information.

 

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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View all 12 profiles
View all 27 projects

  • Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito

    Haba, Y., Aardema, M. L., Afonso, M. O., Agramonte, N. M., Albright, J., Alho, A. M., Almeida, A. P. G., Alout, H., Alten, B., Altinli, M., Amara Korba, R., Andreadis, S. S., Anghel, V., Arich, S., Arsenault-Benoit, A., Atyame, C., Aubry, F., Avila, F. W., Ayala, D., Azrag, R. S., & 197 othersBabayan, L., Bear, A., Becker, N., Bega, A. G., Bejarano, S., Ben-Avi, I., Benoit, J. B., Boubidi, S. C., Bradshaw, W. E., Bravo-Barriga, D., Bueno-Marí, R., Bušić, N., Čabanová, V., Cabeje, B., Caputo, B., Cardo, M. V., Carpenter, S., Carreton, E., Chouaïbou, M. S., Christian, M., Coetzee, M., Conner, W. R., Cornel, A., Culverwell, C. L., Cupina, A. I., De Wolf, K., Deblauwe, I., Deegan, B., Delacour-Estrella, S., Torre, A. D., Diaz, D., Dool, S. E., Dos Anjos, V. L., Dugassa, S., Ebrahimi, B., Eisa, S. Y. M., Elissa, N., Fallatah, S. A. B., Faraji, A., Fedorova, M. V., Ferrill, E., Fonseca, D. M., Foss, K. A., Foxi, C., França, C. M., Fricker, S. R., Fritz, M. L., Frontera, E., Fuehrer, H-P., Futami, K., Ghallab, E. H. S., Girod, R., Gordeev, M. I., Greer, D., Gschwind, M., Guarido, M. M., Guat Ney, T., Gunay, F., Haklay, E., Hamad, A. A. E., Hang, J., Hardy, C. M., Hartle, J. W., Hesson, J. C., Higa, Y., Holzapfel, C. M., Honnen, A-C., Ionica, A. M., Jones, L., Kadriaj, P., Kamal, H. A., Kamdem, C., Karagodin, D. A., Kasai, S., Kavran, M., Khater, E. I. M., Kiene, F., Kim, H-C., Kioulos, I., Klein, A., Klemenčić, M., Klobučar, A., Knutson, E., Koenraadt, C. J. M., Kothera, L., Kreienbühl, P., Labbé, P., Lachmi, I., Lambrechts, L., Landeka, N., Lee, C. H., Lessard, B. D., Leycegui, I., Lundström, J. O., Lustigman, Y., MacIntyre, C., Mackay, A. J., Magori, K., Maia, C., Malcolm, C. A., Marquez, R-J. O., Martins, D., Masri, R. A., McDivitt, G., McMinn, R. J., Medina, J., Mellor, K. S., Mendoza, J., Merdić, E., Mesler, S., Mestre, C., Miranda, H., Miterpáková, M., Montarsi, F., Moskaev, A. V., Mu, T., Möhlmann, T. W. R., Namias, A., Ng'iru, I., Ngangué, M. F., Novo, M. T., Orshan, L., Oteo, J. A., Otsuka, Y., Panarese, R., Paredes-Esquivel, C., Paronyan, L., Peper, S. T., Petrić, D. V., Pilapil, K., Pou-Barreto, C., Puechmaille, S. J., Radespiel, U., Rahola, N., Raman, V. K., Redouane, H., Reiskind, M. H., Reissen, N. M., Rice, B. L., Robert, V., Ruiz-Arrondo, I., Salamat, R., Salamone, A., Sarih, M., Satta, G., Sawabe, K., Schaffner, F., Schultz, K. E., Shaikevich, E. V., Sharakhov, I. V., Sharakhova, M. V., Shatara, N., Sibataev, A. K., Sicard, M., Smith, E., Smith, R. C., Smitz, N., Soriano, N., Spanoudis, C. G., Stone, C. M., Studentsky, L., Sulesco, T., Tantely, L. M., Thao, L. K., Tietze, N., Tokarz, R. E., Tsai, K-H., Tsuda, Y., Turić, N., Uhran, M. R., Unlu, I., Van Bortel, W., Vardanyan, H., Vavassori, L., Velo, E., Venter, M., Vignjević, G., Vogels, C. B. F., Volkava, T., Vontas, J., Ward, H. M., Ahmad, N. W., Weill, M., West, J. D., Wheeler, S. S., White, G. S., Wipf, N. C., Wu, T-P., Yu, K-D., Zimmermann, E., Zittra, C., Korlević, P., McAlister, E., Lawniczak, M. K. N., Schumer, M., Rose, N. H. & McBride, C. S., 2025, (bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology).

    Research output: Working paper › Preprint

    Open Access

  • Ecological interactions in Aedes and Culex mosquitoes : towards sustainable vector management in Europe

    Vanslembrouck, A., 13-Jan-2025, Antwerpen: Universiteit Antwerpen. 221 p.

    Research output: Thesis › Doctoral dissertation - Doctoral dissertation

  • Interaction of predatory macroinvertebrate communities with malaria vectors in aquatic habitats of three climatic zones in Burkina Faso

    Ouedraogo, J., Sawadogo, SP., Niang, A., Soulama, A., Yerbanga, S., Ouédraogo, TFX., Séré, BV., Guissou, C., Dabiré, RK., Müller, R., Gnankine, O. & Diabaté, A., 2025, In: Parasites and Vectors. 18, 1, 15 p., 158.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review

    Open Access
View all 123 research outputs