16 - Guess who’s coming to dinner: A novel approach to blood-feeding mosquito colonies

At Pasco County Mosquito Control District, the increased evidence of resistance in our Culex quinquefasciatus populations has seen need to keep colonies on hand for quick access for resistance testing. Establishing these mosquito colonies from wild populations came with much trial and error for finding their desired rearing conditions. One such obstacle was selecting a preferred blood meal for successful egg production. After discovering human blood was their meal of choice, an ingenious idea arose to construct a 3D-printed device to make blood-feeding mobile.