Laboratory "grew" skin to test mosquito bites
Bioengineers have developed a synthetic skin filled with blood. It is suitable for medical research.Researchers from Rice University and Tulane University have developed an artificial skin from hydrogel. It is filled with channels imitating blood vessels into which various fluids, including human and other types of blood, can be injected. The technology will come in handy for medical research on diseases that are spread by blood-sucking insects.
A comprehensive mosquito feeding surveillance system developed by scientists combines a synthetic skin printed from hydrogel on a 3D printer and a video analytics system. The latter monitors mosquitoes' behavior and captures moments when they suck blood.
To test the system, the researchers injected warm human blood into the hydrogels and placed six skin-simulating patches in a plastic box filled with mosquitoes. The box is equipped with cameras pointed at each area of the synthetic skin. The scientists then used a machine learning model to analyze the videos and determine whether or not certain mosquitoes were feeding on the blood inside the hydrogels.
As an additional test, the scientists showed that they could use the system to track the effectiveness of repellents. They coated some of the samples with popular mosquito repellents and analyzed the insects' behavior. The results showed that none of the mosquitoes approached the protected skin, while in the control group, 13.8 percent of the insects fed on the blood during the same time.
Mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects have been linked to the spread of various deadly diseases: among them, dengue fever, malaria, Zika virus and yellow fever. Traditionally, mosquito feeding studies are conducted on volunteers who place their hand in a closed tank and wait to be bitten. The use of synthetic skin will speed up scientific research, scientists believe: no volunteers or animals need to be brought in to do the research.