University of Oregon

Malaria is a global health crisis that affects an estimated 219 million people and kills 435,000 per year, numbers that evolutionary scientists like University of Oregon’s Andrew Kern are trying to change. In the past, pesticides were one weapon used against mosquitoes that spread the disease. But as such methods become less effective, Kern and other researchers are taking a new approach to preventing the spread of malaria by examining variation in the genomes of mosquitoes.