Brazilian researcher Luciano Moreira has been named one of the ten individuals who shaped science in 2025 by the journal Nature, recognizing his groundbreaking work in combating mosquito-borne diseases. Moreira’s innovative approach centers on utilizing the Wolbachia bacteria to disrupt the transmission of viruses like dengue, chikungunya, adn Zika. Now gaining traction as a public health strategy in 14 countries,including large-scale implementation in Brazil-where a single facility produces over 80 million infected mosquito eggs weekly-the method recently received federal approval as an effective dengue control measure.
Brazilian researcher Luciano Moreira has been recognized as one of the ten individuals who shaped science in 2025, according to a list published by the prestigious journal Nature. Moreira’s work centers on utilizing the Wolbachia bacteria in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to inhibit the transmission of disease.
Moreira, an agricultural engineer and entomologist, is part of a team of scientists operating a facility in Curitiba, Paraná, where more than 80 million mosquito eggs are produced each week. This large-scale production is a key component of a national initiative aimed at combating diseases spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
The project involves infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia, a bacterium that prevents them from transmitting harmful pathogens to humans. This innovative approach offers a potentially sustainable way to control mosquito-borne illnesses, which pose a significant public health challenge in many parts of the world.
Inside the facility, mosquitoes reproduce in a temperature-controlled room filled with screened cages. After the eggs hatch, the mosquitoes are released into Brazilian cities to help control dengue fever and other diseases.
The method, which holds promise for drastically reducing disease transmission and associated healthcare costs, has been tested in Brazil since 2014 and was recently approved by the federal government as an effective measure to combat dengue. Luciano Moreira is credited with championing this approach. “He not only successfully conducted the academic work, carrying out experiments to demonstrate the model’s effectiveness, but also convinced political decision-makers to implement the technology,” says Pedro Lagerblad de Oliveira, a molecular entomologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
How the Wolbachia Method Works
Implemented in 14 countries, the strategy involves releasing mosquitoes inoculated with Wolbachia into the environment. These mosquitoes then breed with the local Aedes aegypti population, passing the bacteria to their offspring. This results in a higher proportion of mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, which reduces their ability to transmit dengue, chikungunya, or Zika virus to humans.
Wolbachia is a genus of bacteria found in more than half of the world’s insects, scientists estimate. Since the early 2010s, researchers have successfully bred Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia species that do not naturally occur in the mosquito.
In Aedes mosquitoes, these bacteria have demonstrated the ability to prevent the multiplication of various arboviruses transmissible to humans, while also giving mosquitoes carrying the bacteria a reproductive advantage over non-infected populations.
According to Fiocruz, the expectation is that for every R$1 invested, the government will save between R$43.45 and R$549.13 in medication, hospitalizations, and overall treatment costs. This potential economic benefit adds to the appeal of the Wolbachia method.
Experts explain to Dr. Kalil measures to combat dengue
*Under the supervision of Thiago Félix
