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COMPASS: understanding Wolbachia–host interactions to improve mosquito-borne disease control
We are excited to launch COMPASS, a new research project funded by the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS3), focused on understanding how interactions between Wolbachia, the mosquito host and the surrounding microbial community shape arbovirus transmission.
Wolbachia is already being used worldwide as a biological tool to reduce the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses. However, the mechanisms that determine why Wolbachia establishes successfully, how it interacts with the host, and how these interactions influence pathogen blocking are still not fully understood.
COMPASS will investigate these mechanisms across multiple biological scales, combining molecular, cellular and microbiological approaches with experimental mosquito systems. The project will examine how different Wolbachia strains interact with Aedes mosquitoes, how the native microbiota contributes to these interactions, and how these factors ultimately affect mosquito competence for arboviruses.