Flying syringe is a phrase that is used to refer to proposed, but not yet created,
genetically modified
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...
mosquitoes
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small Diptera, flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning "gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish ...
that inject
vaccines
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.[< ...]
into
people
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
when they bite them.
History
In the 1990s, Bob Sinden of Imperial College, London, and
Julian Crampton of the University of Liverpool, developed this idea and filled three related patents between 1997 and 2003.
In 2008, the
Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...
awarded $100,000 to Hiroyuki Matsuoka of
Jichi Medical University
is a private university in Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan, established in 1972. In 2008 the Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an Americ ...
in
Japan to do research on them, with a condition that any discoveries that were funded by the grant must be made available at affordable prices in the
developing world. If Matsuoka proves that his idea has merit, he will be eligible for an additional $1 million of funding. ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' referred to flying syringes as a "bold idea".
Flying Syringes and Other Bold Ideas
''The Washington Post'', October 23, 2008
See also
* Hunter-seeker
References
Vaccination
Hypothetical technology
Culicidae
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