Work History

Associate Professor Gregor Devine

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 15 years of 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 has adjunct Associate Professorships at the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and James Cook University. He is also President and Chair of the Mosquito and Arbovirus Research Committee (MARC), Queensland. This committee advises local government and state health authorities on mosquito control, surveillance and the ecology of mosquito-borne disease in Australia.

Current position

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

Previous appointments

• 2011-2013: Director of Medical Entomology, Tropical Regional Services, Queensland, Australia
• 2010-2011: Principal Investigator, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
• 2008-2009: Senior Research Scientist, Rothamsted Research, UK
• 2004-2008: Senior Research Scientist, seconded to the US Navy Medical Research Unit, Peru
• 2006: Director of Entomology, US Navy Medical Research Detachment, Peru

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. Our current emphases include i) mosquito invasions, their origins, pathways, costs and risks ii) impacts of species or strain differences on vector competence, ecological fitness and operational control (e.g. species complexes, Wolbachia infections and insecticide-resistance), iii) the influence of environmental variables (urban structure, temperature) on mosquito-virus interactions, iv) novel means of insecticide delivery (the auto-dissemination of larvicides, the use of volatile pyrethroids as replacements for residual sprays) and v) new technologies for mosquito surveillance (e.g. Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy [NIRS] for age-grading and Restriction-site Associated DNA Sequencing [RADseq] as a reduced-genome approach to the study of dispersal, quarantine pathways and population genetics). Much of this work is facilitated by our unique PC2, PC3 and QC3 laboratories and insectaries.

Research Highlights

I am author or co-author of >80 peer-reviewed publications. I have published in PNAS, Science, Heredity, PLoS NTDs, PLoS One and more specialist entomology and malaria journals.

1. Ciocchetta S, Prow NA, Darbro JM, Frentiu FD, Savino S, Montarsi F, Capelli G, Aaskov J, Devine GJ (2018). Aedes (Finlaya) koreicus, a new European invader and a potential vector for Chikungunya virus. Pathogens and Global Health https://doi.org/10.1080/20477724.2018.1464780
2. Setoh YX, Prow NA, Peng N, Hugo LE, Devine G, Hazlewood JE, Suhrbier A, Khromykh AA (2017). De Novo Generation and Characterization of New Zika Virus Isolate Using Sequence Data from a Microcephaly Case. MSphere: e00190-17
3. 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.
4. Muzari MO, Devine GJ, Davis J, Crunkhorn B, van den Hurk A, Whelan P, et al. (2017) Holding back the tiger: Successful control program protects Australia from Aedes albopictus expansion. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 11(2): e0005286. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005286
5. Darbro JM, Halasa Y, Montgomery B, Muller M, Shepard D, Devine GJ, Mwebaze P (2017). An economic analysis of the threats posed by the establishment of Aedes albopictus in Brisbane, Queensland. Ecological Economics 142 203-213.
6. Ciocchetta S, Darbro JM, Frentiu FD, Montarsi F, Capelli G, Aaskov J, Devine GJ (2017) Laboratory colonization of the European invasive mosquito Aedes (Finlaya) koreicus. Parasites & Vectors.
7. Darbro JM, Muzari O, Giblin A, Adamczyk RM, Ritchie SA, Devine GJ (2017) Reducing biting rates of Aedes aegypti with metofluthrin: investigations in time and space. Parasites & Vectors
8. Sikulu-Lord MT, Milali MP, Henry M, Wirtz RA, Hugo LE, Dowell FE, Devine GJ (2016) Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, a Rapid Method for Predicting the Age of Male and Female Wild-Type and Wolbachia Infected Aedes aegypti. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 10(10): e0005040.
9. Ulrich JN, Beier JC, Devine GJ, Hugo LE (2016) Heat Sensitivity of wMel Wolbachia during Aedes aegypti Development. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 10(7): e0004873.
10. Suhrbier, A. and Devine, G. (2016), Chikungunya virus, risks and responses for Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12515

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, Australia
• 2012-current: adjunct Associate Professor, School of Public Health, James Cook University
• 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, UK

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

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