Welcome to the website of Dr Renate Smallegange.

Linkedin Renate Smallegange

Medical and veterinary entomologist

I am a medical and veterinary entomologist, working nationally and internationally as a research scientist since 1994. My special interest is in the chemical ecology of parasite-vector-host interactions, and the identification of semiochemicals that can be applied to control, monitor or repel vectors of human or animal diseases, such as mosquitoes and flies.

Flies and mosquitoes

I have thorough experience of various bioassays that are used to examine the response of mosquitoes and flies to (visual and) olfactory stimuli in laboratory, semi-field or field conditions. I was part of a research team that established new methods to test mosquito semiochemicals (Schmied et al. 2008, Jawara et al. 2009, Smallegange and Takken 2010, Smallegange et al. 2012).

Malaria mosquitoes

Synthetic lures for malaria mosquitoes have been developed under laboratory and semi-field circumstances that have potential to be used for monitoring in the field (Smallegange et al. 2005, 2009, Okumu et al. 2010, Jawara et al. 2011, Mukabana et al. 2012). Additionally, human skin microbiota have been shown to emit volatiles that are attractive to Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto females (Verhulst et al. 2009, 2010, 2011ab, Smallegange et al. 2011), and sugar-fermenting yeast has been tested as an alternative carbon dioxide source to attract this mosquito species (Smallegange et al. 2010).

Consultancy

I have been consulted, among others, by the University of Brisbane in Australia, Medical Research Council (MRC) in The Gambia, Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Austria, Wageningen University and Wageningen UR in The Netherlands, Yale University in the USA, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the UK to advise on mosquito or fly behavioural experiments.

Media

I have been interviewed in a variety of print and online media and has experience with broadcast appearances on (inter)national television and radio as a scientific expert. For example, an opinion article published online in Trends in Parasitology, “Sweaty skin: an invitation to bite?” by Renate Smallegange, Niels Verhulst, and Willem Takken, has garnered much international press coverage, for example on Discovery News. Also a publication in PLoS ONE in 2013 showing for the first time a change in Anopheles gambiae behaviour in response to olfactory stimuli caused by infection with Plasmodium falciparum received international media attention. An overview of peer reviewed and other publications can be found in Publication list. Additional information can be found in Curriculum Vitae.