Achievement

Trainee Steel also contributed to training and research at his host institution Duke-National University of Singapore (DUKE-NUS). Due to extensive experience in the mosquito insectary at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, NSF IGERT fellow Argon Steel was also able to contribute expertise to the continued operation of the mosquito insectary at DUKE-NUS. He made a particular contribution in reestablishing genetic diversity in their laboratory stocks of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes through importation of eggs from the field. This work involved collaboration with the Singapore government National Environmental Agency; identifying areas of high Aedes abundance in Singapore, setting out traps to capture Aedes eggs, and rearing the resulting mosquitoes so that they could mate with laboratory stock.