Gregor Devine

Associate Professor | Group Leader

greg.devine@qimrberghofer.edu.au

CAREER HISTORY

Associate Professor Gregor Devine came to Brisbane in 2013 to lead the Mosquito Control Laboratory. He is a medical entomologist with a strong background in operational research and research translation in disease endemic settings. He has over 15 years’ experience in South America, East Africa and North Queensland and has worked in academia and the government health sector. His work focuses on mosquito vectors of disease with an emphasis on control, surveillance, ecology and investigations of vectorial capacity.

Greg is on the steering committee of the New Ireland Malaria Alliance (NIPMA) that seeks malaria elimination in that region. He is Chair of the Commonwealth’s Aedes albopictus quarantine initiative in the Torres Strait and President of the Mosquito and Arbovirus Research Committee (MARC) that promotes and funds research on vector control and arbovirus surveillance. Greg has adjunct Associate Professorships at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology.

CURRENT APPOINTMENTS

2013-current: Group Leader, Mosquito Control Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer

PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS

2011-2013: Director of Medical Entomology, Tropical Regional Services, Queensland Health

2009-2011: Principal Investigator, Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania

2006: Director of Medical Entomology, US Navy Medical Research Unit, Iquitos, Peru

2004-2009: Technical Consultant, Amazon Malaria Initiative, US CDC, Peru and Bolivia

2004-2009: Principal Investigator, US Navy Medical Research Unit, Iquitos, Peru

1999-2004: Senior Research Scientist, Rothamsted Research, UK

1998-1999: Research Fellow, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen, UK

1991-1998: Scientific Officer and Higher Scientific Officer, Rothamsted Research, UK

ORCID NUMBER

0000-0001-6312-0390

RESEARCHER ID

H-1141-2014

CURRENT AREA OF RESEARCH

There are no vaccines and few drugs available for combating mosquito borne diseases like malaria, dengue, Zika and chikungunya. Mosquito surveillance, management and manipulation remain the mainstays of most disease control programs. The Mosquito Control Laboratory focuses on operational research, translation and implementation in relation to mosquito vectors of disease. Broadly, we characterize, monitor and manipulate the entomological determinants of arbovirus and malaria transmission. The lab focuses on applied research. We characterize, monitor and manipulate the entomological determinants of arbovirus and malaria transmission. Our emphases include: i) the pathways, risks and costs of mosquito invasions; ii) impacts of species, strain and environment on vector competence and vectorial capacity; iii) novel means of insecticide delivery (autodissemination, spatial repellents) and iv) new technologies for surveillance (smart traps, Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy, genomic characterisation of mosquito ecology). Our work is facilitated by QIMRB’s unique PC2 and PC3 insectaries and access to disease-endemic field sites.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Associate Professor Devine is author or co-author of >150 peer-reviewed publications. He has published in PNAS, Science, Heredity, PLoS NTDs, PLoS One and more specialist entomology and malaria journals.

1. Filipović I, Hapuarachchi C; Tien WP; Muhammed AAR; Lee C; Tan HC; Devine GJ; Rašić G (in press) Using spatial genetics to quantify mosquito dispersal for control programs. BMC Biology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.30.017301.

This paper is the first senior author paper from our lab that applies recently acquired expertise in genomics to inform operational disease control programs (with NEA Singapore)

1. Gyawali N, Murphy AK, Hugo LE, Devine GJ (2020) A micro-PRNT for the detection of Ross River virus antibodies in mosquito blood meals: A useful tool for inferring transmission pathways. PLoS One 15(7): e0229314. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229314.

Supported by Queensland Health and local government, this is a unique application of the “flying syringe” concept where mosquito blood meals are used to unravel the transmission pathways of complex zoonoses.

1. Rigby LM, Rašić G, Peatey CL, Hugo LE, Beebe NW, Devine GJ (2020) Identifying the fitness costs of a pyrethroid-resistant genotype in the major arboviral vector, Aedes aegypti. Parasites and Vectors 13:358 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04238-4.

A rare example of classical genetics being used to isolate a single point mutation in an otherwise homogenous genetic background in order to examine pleiotropic effects on fitness and survival.

1. Johnson, B.J., Manby, R. & Devine, G.J. (2020) What Happens on Islands, doesn’t Stay on Islands: Patterns of Synchronicity in Mosquito Nuisance and Host-Seeking Activity between a Mangrove Island and Adjacent Coastal Development. Urban Ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-00998-0.

This is an example of the work that QIMRB does on behalf of the mosquito control community. This one alerts local government to the risks of building new coastal developments close to productive mosquito habitat (with local government).

1. Slonchak A, Hugo LE, Freney ME, Hall-Mendelin S, Amarilla AA, Torres FJ, Setoh YX, Peng NYG, Sng JDJ, Hall RA, van den Hurk AF, Devine GJ, Khromykh AA (2020) Zika virus noncoding RNA suppresses apoptosis and is required for virus transmission by mosquitoes. Nature Communications 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16086-y.

The lab’s expertise in mosquito-virus interaction was essential to this study, which demonstrates how the Zika virus evades the mosquito immune system (with UQ and QH).

1. Johnson B, Hugo LE, Churcher TS, Ong OTW, Devine GJ (2020) Mosquito Age Grading and Vector-Control Programmes. Trends Parasitol 36(1):39-51 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2019.10.011.

A review paper that captures the empirical output of this lab on measuring mosquito age – one of the key parameters driving vector-borne disease transmission (with Imperial College)

1. Seixas G, Paul REL, Pires B, Alves G, De Jesus A, Silva AC, Devine GJ*, Sousa CA* (joint last, 2019). An evaluation of efficacy of the auto-dissemination technique as a tool for Aedes aegypti control in Madeira, Portugal. Parasites & Vectors 12: 202. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-019-3454-3.

An evaluation of a novel larviciding technique funded by the ECDC and commissioned by the Pasteur.

1. Pasay C, Yakob L, Llewellyn S, Mills P, Dekkers M, Stewart R, Hugo L, McCarthy J, Devine GJ (2019) Treatment of pigs with endectocides as a complementary tool for combating malaria transmission by Anopheles farauti (s.s.) in Papua New Guinea. Parasites & Vectors 12:124. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-019-3392-0.

A mix of modelling and empirical proofs used to contribute to a very topical area of vector control (with LSHTM, the UQ vet school and CTM).

1. Trewin BJ, Darbro JM, Jansen CC, Schellhorn NA, Zalucki M, Hurst TP and Devine GJ (2017). The elimination of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti from Brisbane, Australia: the role of surveillance, larval habitat removal and policy. PLoS NTDs 11(8): e0005848. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005848.

A detailed review of changing vector distributions in SEQ that demonstrates the potential for the re-invasion of dengue vectors (with UQ, CSIRO and QH).

1. Ulrich JN, Beier JC, Devine GJ, Hugo LE (2016) Heat Sensitivity of wMel Wolbachia during

Aedes aegypti Development. PLoS NTDs 10 (7): e0004873. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004873.

The first paper to determine that the spread of Wolbachia may be constrained under some environmental conditions (with University of Miami).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

2000-current: Fellow, Royal Entomological Society, UK (FRES)

AWARDS RECOGNITION

2014-current: Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland

2013-current: President, Mosquito and Arbovirus Research Committee, Queensland

2005-current: Member, US Naval Medical Research Unit, Scientific Review Board

2004-2008: Consultant, Amazon Malaria Initiative, US Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

1994-1997: PhD Entomology, Imperial College, London

1989-1990: MSc Applied Entomology (distinction), Imperial College, London

1984-1988: BSc Zoology, Honours 2i, Aberdeen University, Scotland

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