“HOPE” to reign in a crisis

Singapore Management University

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SMU Professor Lau Hoong Chuin bags major grant to build a new science of resilience and next-generation decision platform for Singapore to manage national crises.

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Credit: Singapore Management University

By Christie Loh

SMU Office of Research Governance & Administration – One of Singapore Management University’s (SMU) leading computer scientists has secured multi-million-dollar funding to build a new generation of intelligent decision support methods and software tools that will strengthen the country’s agility in resource allocation during national crises including a pandemic.

The five-year project, titled Human-Centered Operational Pandemic Resilience (HOPE), is funded under the Ministry of Education’s Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 3 Programme. Tier 3 grants are the highest and most competitive tier of academic research funding in Singapore, awarded to high-impact interdisciplinary programmes that are overall led by a university researcher with outstanding credentials.

HOPE’s Lead Principal Investigator (PI) is SMU Professor of Computer Science Lau Hoong Chuin, whose successful collaborations with industry giants such as IBM and Fujitsu have yielded solid results in terms of business cost savings and technological innovations. 

He is attempting to create something unprecedented with HOPE. 

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have started beefing up their strategies to cope with sudden major crises. But while most national programmes focus on single goals such as diversifying supply chains or healthcare interventions, this SMU project is gunning for a “holistic” resilience system built around three pillars: Enhancing supply chain resilience, optimising healthcare operations, and strengthening emergency response coordination. 

“It’s an ambitious attempt,” Professor Lau readily acknowledged in an interview with SMU’s Office of Research Governance & Administration (ORGA). 

However, “because Singapore is small, and we have strong coordination between government agencies, healthcare institutions, industry and the research communities, this programme is uniquely positioned to showcase a truly integrated approach to resilience in the face of uncertainty”.

AI + OR + Human in the Centre

 A distinguishing feature of HOPE is its integration of Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research – two disciplines that are often pursued separately. 

AI excels at learning patterns from large volumes of data and generating predictions, while OR provides mathematical frameworks for planning, optimisation, and resource allocation. By combining the strengths of both fields, the team hopes to create systems that are not only intelligent, but also transparent, reliable, and operationally actionable.

“We’re bringing the two disciplines together deeply; and ultimately our goal is to solve real-world problems that matter,” said Professor Lau.

At the heart of the programme is a commitment to “human-centered” decision making, balancing societal needs and economic efficiency. For instance, when allocating essentials such as food supplies and medical equipment during a crisis, the software tools would be used to estimate how these scarce resources should be distributed to various communities in a fair, equitable manner. The same suite of tools would also be used to manage workforce planning issues in healthcare operations, such as rostering of nurses to ensure they receive adequate rest while maintaining quality patient care, as well as decisions on balancing urgent and elective surgeries.

HOPE will collaborate with government agencies and industry partners, including Singapore’s Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and REsponse (PREPARE), A*STAR’s Institute of Advanced Intelligence and Computing, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Singapore General Hospital.

The tools created now in ‘peacetime’ will certainly have uses. One project that is ready for use at present is related to predicting and acting on a surge in dengue fever cases, said Professor Lau. 

When crisis or ‘wartime’ strikes, the system built by his team should help stakeholders such as healthcare institutions effectively pivot. In today’s world fraught with uncertainty, we need to create tools to smoothen the transition from peacetime to wartime rather than improvising in the midst of an emergency. “That’s why I named the programme “HOPE”: there is HOPE during crisis,” Professor Lau said.

“HOPE will serve as a university-wide platform, bringing together researchers from across the university to address complex societal challenges through AI, data science, optimisation, social science, public policy, and other complementary disciplines,” said Professor Lau.

He added: “We are not simply building a five-year research programme. Our aspiration is to create a lasting area of excellence that advances human-centered AI, and serves as a trusted partner for government, industry and healthcare organisations.” 

“If we are successful, HOPE will become a catalyst for new collaborations and innovations and to thrive in the long term,” said Professor Lau. “The hope is to develop technologies and capabilities that deliver tangible impact, and not just add a few more papers to the literature.”

 

T cells are a powerful force against Zika virus

LJI scientists tested two Zika vaccines, both designed to work through antibodies. One protected through T cells instead—but only the vaccine that mustered both held off the virus for the long haul.

La Jolla Institute for Immunology

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La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) Professor Sujan Shresta, Ph.D., studies how the immune system targets Zika virus infection. Her lab has found that a vaccine approach could activate T cells to help protect the human body from severe Zika virus infection.

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Credit: La Jolla Institute for Immunology

LA JOLLA, CA—Zika virus has been spreading for decades, but it first grabbed worldwide headlines in 2016. That February, with an outbreak sweeping the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the surge in Zika-linked birth defects a “public health emergency of international concern”—a designation which lasted until that November. An estimated one million people or more were infected before the wave subsided.

Zika virus is carried by different species of Aedes mosquitoes. These mosquitoes had spread into new regions and found new victims. More people were getting sick, including pregnant women.

Doctors realized that the increased cases of microcephaly (significantly smaller brain and head development) in newborns across the Americas were caused by Zika virus infection. Women who contracted Zika virus during pregnancy were also much more likely to miscarry. Babies who survived could be born with eye and ear problems and joint issues, a pattern of birth defects doctors now group together as congenital Zika syndrome.

Today, at least 97 countries and territories have reported evidence of Zika virus transmission, according to the WHO. Reported cases have fallen sharply since 2017, but researchers expect the pool of susceptible people to rebuild over the coming decade, and a warming climate and the spread of insecticide-resistant Aedes mosquitoes keep widening the map of who is at risk. We still do not have any specific Zika virus treatments or vaccines.

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) aim to change that by investigating how we can design vaccines that provide long-lasting, effective protection against severe Zika virus infection.

LJI Professor Sujan Shresta, Ph.D., recently published a study in Nature Microbiology showing that an experimental Zika virus vaccine can protect mice through T cells alone, without help from virus-fighting antibodies. The catch: on their own, those T cells do not keep the protection going.

This discovery is a critical step in the fight against Zika virus and its close viral relatives, including the life-threatening dengue virus. “The long-term goal of our lab is to develop a vaccine that provides long-term protection against all of these viruses,” says Shresta.

Why don’t we have Zika virus vaccines?

Most vaccines work by prompting the body to make antibodies, which bind to part of a pathogen—the outside of a virus, say—and neutralize it before it can cause infection. Antibodies and the B cells that produce them can then linger in the blood for years, lying in wait for their targets.

But in the case of Zika virus vaccines, antibodies pose a big problem. Zika belongs to a family of mosquito-borne viruses—the orthoflaviviruses—that also includes dengue and Japanese encephalitis virus, and these viruses overlap across much of the world. Zika and dengue are especially close cousins: the envelope proteins that coat them are so similar that antibodies raised against one routinely latch onto the other.

Shresta has studied a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). When antibodies bind a virus without disabling it—because they were raised against a relative, or because their levels have waned—they can end up ferrying the virus into immune cells instead of blocking it, driving a more severe infection. Because of ADE, a person who receives a vaccine that prompts the body to make antibodies against Zika virus could be vulnerable to a severe case of Zika or dengue infection later on.

The risk of ADE means vaccine researchers need to find innovative ways of protecting the body from orthoflaviviruses.

In past studies, Shresta uncovered the potential power of T cells in fighting orthoflaviviruses. T cells patrol the body for signs of disease and adapt over time to recognize specific threats, and vaccines can train them just as they train antibodies. Shresta has shown that T cells offer a chance to fight these viruses when you can’t depend on antibodies.

Vaccine yields surprising results

For the new study, Shresta worked with LJI Research Instructor Annie Elong Ngono, Ph.D., and Visiting Scientist Kantinan Chuensirikulchai, Ph.D., to compare two experimental Zika vaccines in mice bred to be susceptible to the virus. 

Like most Zika vaccine candidates, both were built around the virus’s outer coat proteins to elicit neutralizing antibodies. In one, those proteins were left as they occur in nature. In the other, the team mutated a small patch called the fusion loop, the very site that generates most of the cross-reactive antibodies behind ADE. The researchers wanted to know whether removing that liability would also change how T cells respond.

In their tests, the unmodified vaccine got the immune system to fight Zika virus infection with a double-whammy of antibodies and T cells. Transferring CD8+ T cells from those mice into unvaccinated animals cut Zika levels on its own—so T cells were pulling real weight even in the vaccine whose antibodies worked as intended.

The fusion-loop mutant vaccine came with an even bigger surprise. Its antibodies shared many features in cell cultures and test tubes as those from the unmodified vaccine, but they did not protect unvaccinated animals at all. Stripping out the CD8+ T cells, by contrast, wiped the protection away. “This vaccine wasn’t protecting via antibodies,” says Shresta. “It was protecting via T cells.”

“The protection came from CD8+ T cells, a type of immune cell that finds and destroys virus-infected cells,” adds Chuensirikulchai.

This protection was effective, but it didn’t last. Twelve weeks after the final dose, mice given the fusion-loop mutant vaccine were no better off than unvaccinated animals, while those given the unmodified vaccine were still protected. The lesson is a cautionary one: a change made to reduce ADE risk quietly cost the vaccine its staying power. 

Shresta and her colleagues are now investigating how to build up a “durable” army of T cells that can respond to Zika virus infection for years after vaccination. “We need innovative vaccines,” says Elong Ngono. “And now we know what to focus on.”

What’s next for life-saving vaccines?

This work doesn’t stop with a Zika virus vaccine, says Shresta. She has found that T cells have the power to “cross-react” and respond to several related viruses, such as Zika and dengue, at the same time.

The new study brings Shresta’s team closer to a “pan-orthoflavivirus vaccine” that could teach T cells to fight many of these viruses at once—an approach that would be worth a great deal in the many places where people meet more than one related virus.

As Chuensirikulchai explains, the new findings reinforce the idea that effective vaccines against orthoflaviviruses should prompt the body to make virus-specific and cross-reactive T cells in addition to antibodies that neutralize and avoid ADE.

“Our study highlights the importance of considering T cell-mediated immunity alongside neutralizing antibodies,” says Chuensirikulchai. “This concept may inspire new vaccine strategies for other orthoflaviviruses, particularly in situations where antibody responses alone are insufficient or may contribute to unwanted immune effects.”

Publication details:

Additional authors of the study, "A Zika Virus Vaccine with E Protein Fusion Loop Mutations Protects via CD8+ T Cells,” are Qin Hui Li, Hsueh-han Lu, Julia Timis, Manuel Montano, Luke Eder, Pradip Bhandari, Dawid Zyla, Maximilian Bunz, Henry Madany, Rubens Alves, Paolla Beatriz Almeida Pinto, Erin Maule, Michael Nguyen, Erica Ollmann Saphire, and Lakshmanane Premkumar.

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01AI153500, R01AI163188, R01AI180196, and U19AI181960) and the Prebys Foundation Research Heroes program.

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Journal

Nature Microbiology

DOI

10.1038/s41564-026-02465-6 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

A Zika virus vaccine with E protein fusion loop mutations protects via CD8+ T cells

Article Publication Date

26-Aug-2026

Europe’s mosquito problem is getting harder to control

Copyright Canva

By Giedre Peseckyte

Published on 21/08/2026 - EURONEWS

Europe is facing a growing mosquito-borne disease threat — and the continent’s ability to fight it remains uneven, according to the EU’s disease prevention agency.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned that Europe needs to strengthen mosquito surveillance and expand the tools available to control the insects as West Nile virus continues to spread and invasive mosquito species become established in new areas.

“The expansion of West Nile virus transmission as well as the spread of invasive mosquito species demonstrate why Europe needs to strengthen its mosquito-control capacity,” said Céline Gossner, ECDC expert in food, water, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.

The warning comes as the summer transmission season enters its most active period. Six European regions have reported locally acquired West Nile virus infections for the first time this year, while 429 locally acquired cases had been recorded across nine European countries as of August 13, according to the ECDC. Transmission typically peaks in August and early September, meaning the tally is expected to rise.

At the same time, the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has become established in 16 European countries — twice as many as 12 years ago. The species can transmit dengue and chikungunya, diseases that were once largely associated with tropical and subtropical regions.

A patchwork across Europe

The changing picture is exposing a less visible problem: Europe does not have a consistent system for controlling the mosquitoes that carry these diseases.

A new ECDC survey of mosquito surveillance and control practices found substantial differences between countries in how programmes are organised, funded and implemented. Of the 38 countries and jurisdictions contacted, 26 returned questionnaires.

The report found that many mosquito surveillance and control programmes rely on short-term funding and lack long-term planning. Responsibility can also sit at different levels of government — national, regional or local — making approaches difficult to coordinate across borders.

That matters because mosquitoes do not respect those borders.

“For effective mosquito control, we need close cooperation in Europe and an integrated approach that brings together mosquito monitoring, community engagement, and targeted mosquito control solutions that take environmental impact into account,” Gossner said.

The ECDC says reactive mosquito control is often ad hoc and focused on adult insects, while longer-term strategies to eliminate invasive populations are frequently missing. For Aedes mosquitoes, countries use a mixture of chemical and non-chemical measures, including efforts to target immature mosquitoes and campaigns to get communities involved.

Climate change is adding urgency to the problem. Longer and more intense transmission seasons are already being observed for West Nile virus, dengue and chikungunya, according to the ECDC's new report. Warmer conditions can create more favourable environments for mosquitoes and extend the periods during which viruses can circulate.

 

World Mosquito Day 2026: European Union scientists highlight essential role of mosquito control to tackle increase in mosquito-borne diseases in Europe

Continued research on interventions and cross-sectoral collaboration needed to develop effective mosquito control strategies

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

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Mosquito control is crucial to address the increase in mosquito-borne diseases in Europe such as dengue, chikungunya virus disease, and West Nile virus infection, according to EU scientists from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the European Environmental Agency (EEA), and the European Commission, in an article published in Eurosurveillance.

The article was published on World Mosquito Day 2026. This day, observed annually on 20 August, raises awareness about the dangers of mosquito-borne diseases. Global warming, changing environmental conditions, and more frequent international travel, have led to an increase in transmission and outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases in Europe and worldwide.

According to the authors, mosquito control efforts are challenged by fragmented governance, limited data on cost-effectiveness and safety of available measures, and a narrow range of approved biocidal substances which are threatened by increasing mosquito resistance to insecticides. Briet et al., recommend continued investment in research to address these issues in order to develop sustainable, evidence-based and integrated mosquito control strategies.

Moreover, the authors emphasise that Europe should promote a One Health approach, which brings together the public health, environmental, veterinary and urban planning sectors to improve the effectiveness of interventions.

Control measures are available, but considerable uncertainties remain

Several methods to curb mosquito populations exist. Stagnant water, where mosquito larvae grow, can either be removed or treated with larvicides. During outbreaks, adult mosquitoes can be controlled with biocides. The sterile insect technique (SIT), which is currently being piloted in Europe, involves releasing sterilised male mosquitoes that mate with females and result in infertile eggs.

Additionally, personal protective measures to prevent mosquito bites can help with efforts to control mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases. These include using repellents, physical barriers, such as nets, window and door screens, and protective clothing.

However, several challenges remain. There are still uncertainties about the cost effectiveness of these methods, and interventions need to be adapted to local conditions. There are also differences across countries regarding which biocidal products are available or how they can be used.

Pyrethroids, which comprise the majority of approved substances for use in biocidal products, are effective tools for adult mosquito control, but concerns remain about environmental and human health impacts from their wider use. Furthermore, mosquito resistance against these insecticides is increasing.

Mosquito-borne diseases are not always seen as a political priority, which can be limit investment in their surveillance and control.

Cooperation across sectors essential for effective mosquito control

Mosquito control in European countries and at the EU level is overseen by a diverse set of authorities and institutions. In countries, it is usually the responsibility of Ministries of Health, though this is sometimes delegated to municipal authorities. Other ministries are also often involved. Control plans are typically made sub-nationally and deployed by private contractors. In ECDC surveys from 2020 and 2025, 20 out of 29 countries reported having active control measures, with most efforts targeting mosquito larvae. Additionally, the general population also plays a role through personal protective measures.

Action at the EU level involves several institutions with complementary mandates, collaborating both formally and informally through shared science, funding and coordination mechanisms.

ECDC and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) provide scientific guidance on public and animal health, respectively, as well as surveillance. ECHA evaluates biocidal substances for mosquito control, while the EEA provides environmental and climate data that help assess risk. Meanwhile, the European Commission oversees the implementation of EU health legislation and supports public health measures, vector surveillance and control through several initiatives and funding.

Together, these activities contribute to a stronger and more coherent approach to addressing vector borne disease risks across Europe.

Given the current complexities in control measures and governance, Briet et al. recommend sustainable, evidence-based and integrated mosquito control, implemented across subnational, national and EU levels. These activities should be embedded in a cross-sectoral One Health approach to reduce outbreak risk while protecting public health, animal health and ecosystems.

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Journal

Eurosurveillance

DOI

10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2026.31.33.2600306 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Strengthening mosquito control to manage emerging mosquito-borne diseases

Article Publication Date

20-Aug-2026

Southwest France steps up mosquito control after 20 chikungunya cases

Mosquito control operations are being stepped up across southwestern France after more than 20 locally contracted cases of the chikungunya virus were recorded since the beginning of August, with infections reported in three departments.


Issued on: 19/08/2026 - RFI

A city employee sprays a solution against mosquitos in Saint Denis, Reunion Island, where nearly 100,000 people are thought to have been infected with chikungunya last year. © Adrien/AP

The chikungunya cases are described as “autochthonous”, meaning the virus was contracted in France rather than brought back by someone from abroad.

The largest-known outbreak of 16 cases is in Prignac-et-Marcamps, north of Bordeaux, where authorities have carried out insecticide treatments in parks and gardens.

They are also removing stagnant water where the invasive tiger mosquito lays its eggs.

Ideal conditions

The tiger mosquito, known scientifically as Aedes albopictus, is originally from Southeast Asia and can transmit chikungunya as well as dengue and Zika.

First detected in mainland France in 2004, it is now present across most of the country. The first locally acquired chikungunya case in Gironde was detected in summer 2025, in a five-year-old child.

The mosquito’s advance has been fuelled by warmer summers, urbanisation and increased international travel, which together create ideal conditions for both the insect and the viruses it can transmit.

Health authorities have been urging residents to remove stagnant water from gardens, balconies and around their homes, as even small amounts of water can become breeding sites.

Similar prevention measures have been introduced in the east of the Tarn department after two chikungunya cases were detected, following a case reported at the start of August.

Door-to-door visits

In Haute-Garonne, the towns of Cugnaux, Seysses and Brax, near Toulouse, were treated overnight on 10 August following several reports of cases.

The Regional Health Agency of Nouvelle-Aquitaine has stressed the importance of investigating confirmed infections.

“As soon as a confirmed case of dengue or chikungunya is reported, an epidemiological investigation is launched,” it said in a statement.

It added that health teams are carrying out field investigations, including door-to-door visits, in affected neighbourhoods in order to identify other cases and raise awareness on preventing mosquito bites to limit the spread of the diseases.

Residents have been advised to seek medical attention promptly if they develop symptoms, which include a high fever, joint or muscle pain, fatigue, headaches or a skin rash.

 

Every mosquito has a type — and you may not be it

Florida International University

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A mosquito is examined under a microscope in the lab of FIU professor Matthew DeGennaro. (Credit: Christopher Necuze/Florida International University)

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Credit: Christopher Necuze/Florida International University

There is no such thing as a universal mosquito magnet.  

In a new study published in iScience, Florida International University (FIU) researchers pitted 119 human volunteers against three of the world's most dangerous mosquito species and found that not one person was attractive to all three. Every species had its own type. Attraction was largely driven by chemistry — an individual’s body chemistry.

This single finding could reshape how the world fights mosquito-borne disease. Because each species decodes human scent differently, the results could help scientists develop next-generation, species-specific repellents.  

"Isolating the components of human odor that attract or repel mosquitoes could lead to novel strategies to combat vector-borne diseases," said Matthew DeGennaro, a neurogeneticist who leads the research team and directs the Biomolecular Sciences Institute at FIU, Miami’s state university. 

The three species studied — Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) and Culex quinquefasciatus (southern house mosquito) — together spread yellow fever, dengue, Zika, West Nile and other diseases. The study, led by Ph.D. student Kaylee Marrero, is the first to directly compare how multiple mosquito species respond to the same people. 

“We didn’t expect the species to prefer different people when we started the study,” Marrero said. “Each species having a distinct microbial signature that they use as a cue was so surprising to me.” 

Each species had a distinct set of turn-ons and turn-offs: 

• Aedes aegypti preferred people wearing no added scent whose skin lacked certain volatile compounds. These daytime feeders showed a slight preference for men over women. 

• Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger) was drawn to elevated ketones and plant-like volatile compounds naturally secreted by skin. Like Aedes aegypti, it feeds during the day. 

• Culex quinquefasciatus (southern house) fed after dark and keyed in on the skin microbiome — the microscopic ecosystem of bacteria, fungi and microbes naturally living on people’s skin. Some bacterial families were a green light to feed; others drove the mosquitoes away. 

Human scent is a complex space of more than 1,000 volatile organic compounds, many still uncharacterized. Rather than agreeing on who was most attractive, each species consistently favored a different subset of people — evidence that the species have evolved distinct ways of sensing humans. Alongside the preference tests, the team collected odor and microbiome samples to identify which compounds and bacteria were present, and at what levels. 

"This connected so well with the differences in skin bacteria and odors," DeGennaro said. "It is clear to me now that our skin microbiomes define our human odor signature. Each species found its own way to decode that signature." 

By mapping these species-specific chemical cues, the FIU team is laying the groundwork for repellents and public health strategies tailored to the mosquito that matters most in a given region.

Photos and videos for media use are available via Dropbox. 

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Journal

iScience

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2026.117006 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Individual humans are more attractive to certain mosquito species

Article Publication Date

21-Aug-2026