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Environmentally Sensitive Mosquito Control
August 31, 2022 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Free
‘Environmentally Sensitive Mosquito Control’ presentation from Dr Toby Mills, and Mosquito-repellent clothing by Borne Clothing, in recognition of World Mosquito Day.
Speaker 1: Dr Toby Mills is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle. As a microbiologist his research has focused on the role that symbiotic microbiota play in the life and development of insects. His PhD investigated the microbiome of two Australian native stingless bees, Tetragonula carbonaria and Austroplebia australis, and their potential to produce antimicrobial compounds. More recently Dr Mills has joined the University of Newcastle Grand Challenge on Mosquitos to solve the nuisance and health impacts of mosquitos, both locally and globally.
Speaker 2: Bal Dhital (Borne Clothing) https://www.borneclothing.com/.
Bal is a co-founder of Borne Clothing, a social enterprise on a mission to end mosquito-borne diseases. He holds the world record for the fastest time to fold, label, and send a mosquito-repellent t-shirt. It’s a niche record, only contested by a handful of people worldwide, but still something he’s proud of. When Bal isn’t writing marketing emails, he works as a junior doctor in Newcastle, is often found losing his keys, and is looking forwards to a career in public health.
Bals talk will be: ‘Scratching the Itch to Make a Difference – The Story of Borne Clothing So Far’
There are few things as universal as the mozzie bite – who hasn’t been bitten by one?! For most of us, a bite today will mean an itch tonight, but for 700 million people each year, it’ll mean a potentially life-threatening mosquito-borne disease.
In the fight against these entirely preventable diseases – which take the life of one child just over every minute – the single biggest is a lack of sustainable funding. Borne Clothing believes that social enterprise can be part of that solution, and that we can hope to end diseases like malaria one mozzie-free tee at a time!