ICMR Seeks Commercialisation Of Indigenous Mosquito Blood-Feeding Device To Boost Vector Research

Nearly four years after its development, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is now seeking industry partners to commercialise its indigenous microcontroller-based mosquito blood-feeding device, designed to replace conventional animal-based feeding methods in vector research laboratories.

According to the ICMR’s Expression of Interest (EoI), which closes soon, the device offers a compact, temperature-controlled, and reusable feeding system that can replace traditional mosquito blood-feeding practices dependent on human or animal hosts.

The device has been developed by the ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre in Pondicherry and has already been patented.

Vector biology experts explained that blood feeding remains one of the most critical and ethically challenging aspects of mosquito-rearing laboratories. Female mosquitoes require blood meals for egg production, and laboratories involved in vector research often rely on live hosts or cumbersome heating systems to maintain mosquito colonies.

However, the ICMR-developed device attempts to address these concerns through an automated microcontroller-based mechanism that maintains precise temperature conditions essential for mosquito feeding.

The feeder comprises an integrated feeding chamber equipped with a heating component and temperature sensor that regulates thermal conditions required for successful feeding. It also contains a detachable reservoir capable of holding blood or artificial diet solutions on a membrane platform.

According to the technology details released by the ICMR, the reservoir can be easily removed, washed, and reused, thereby reducing contamination risks and operational costs during long-term laboratory use.

The system is operated through an embedded 8-bit microcontroller that regulates all feeding functions and maintains stable temperature conditions. The feeder is mounted within a cylindrical nylon bush fitted into a uPVC tube, allowing its use in standardised mosquito-rearing setups.

According to scientists in the ICMR involved in vector control programmes, the innovation could significantly simplify laboratory maintenance of mosquitoes while improving biosafety and reducing ethical concerns associated with animal-based feeding systems.

The technology assumes significance at a time when mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, and chikungunya are expanding their footprint across India amid rapid urbanisation and climate change. Scientists, too, are looking for safer, more efficient, and ethically sustainable methods to breed mosquitoes in laboratories.

Scientists require large-scale mosquito colonies for studies related to disease transmission, insecticide resistance, drug testing, and the development of novel control approaches, including Wolbachia-based and sterile insect techniques.

According to the ICMR document, existing feeding systems often depend on hot water circulation, lighting arrangements, or melted wax systems to maintain warmth in blood reservoirs. These methods are not only labour-intensive but also difficult to standardise across laboratories.

The indigenous feeder seeks to eliminate the need for such supporting systems while providing a portable and user-friendly platform for membrane-feeding assays.

The device has already undergone in-house validation under an independent research project evaluating endectocide drugs for mosquito control using membrane-feeding techniques, said the ICMR document.

The validation studies, conducted on Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus, reportedly demonstrated reliable performance in assessing mosquito mortality, survival, fecundity, and hatchability following blood feeding.

The findings from these experiments were published in the peer-reviewed journal Pest Management Science in February last year, lending scientific validation to the device’s utility in advanced vector-control research, said the scientists.