Sobre l'autor

Alex Richter-Boix

Alex Richter-Boix is a Postdoc and scientist communication technician at the University Pompeu Fabra (UPF, Barcelona) participating in the Human-Mosquito Interaction Project (H-MIP) funded by the European Research Council. The group is investigating host-vector networks, and the socio-ecological context of mosquito borne disease, with an interdisciplinary approach combining new genetic techniques with citizen science, sociology and modelling. His main contribution is in the citizen science approach, helping in the design of the new version of the Mosquito Alert app and the digital platform of the project that allows everyone to report where they find mosquitoes and where they get bitten. He is also responsible for the communication strategy to promote the use of the app by citizens.

He is a biologist, specialist in evolutionary ecology and science communication. His doctoral thesis at the University of Barcelona (UB) focused on the phenotypic plasticity and ecology of amphibian larvae phase, while during his first postdoc position at the Uppsala University (UU, Sweden) focused in understand the mechanisms of ecological adaptation of animal populations, analyzing the link between spatial variation in ecological conditions and differentiation, including anthropogenic alterations like Global Warming, landscape alteration and invasive species. He has developed his scientific activity at the UB and UPF (Barcelona, Spain), at EBD-CSIC (Seville, Spain), and at EBC-UU (Uppsala, Sweden), doing fieldwork in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Iceland and Argentina. Lastly he studied a master’s degree on science communication at the UPF Barcelona School of Management.


Publicacions

Reconstruint la interacció humà-mosquit al Jardí Botànic Marimurtra

El dissabte 12 de juny, l’equip de Mosquito Alert va dur a terme una activitat en l’idíl·lic Jardí Botànic Marimurtra de Blanes. Al llarg de tot el dia es va desenvolupar una prova pilot en el marc del projecte Human-Mosquit Interaction atorgat pel EuropeanResearch Council (ERC), que té com a objectiu estudiar la xarxa d’interaccions que hi ha entre el mosquit tigre i les persones.

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La complexa interacció entre humans i mosquits

Malgrat els grans avanços científics i clínics de les últimes dècades, les malalties transmeses per vectors com els mosquits continuen sent una de les principals amenaces per a la salut pública mundial. Malalties com el dengue són un risc per a centenars de milions de persones cada any, mentre que la malària encara causa més de 400.000 morts a l’any. A aquestes malalties en els últims anys s’han sumat brots de Zika, chikungunya i febre del Nil Occidental. A les infeccions transmeses pels mosquits cal sumar les d’altres artròpodes, com a mosques negres, flebòtoms, xinxes, paparres o mosques tse-tse, que en conjunt causen més de 26 milions de casos anuals.

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