CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, incubated startup firm has developed a device that might help control mosquitoes in the entire city.The MGH Labs, which functions on the campus, has developed a mosquito trapper, Bog Orchid, which uses chemicals that mimics human odour. “This is non-toxic and attracts the female mosquitoes to the device. The device will catch mosquitoes and kill them. Its efficacy has been proven on Aedes mosquitoes, the dengue-spreading ones,” said lab founder Gokul Rajasekaran.The IIT-M had lost one student to dengue two weeks ago.
The City Corporation, faced with the dengue challenge, is now field testing the device in the city. “We did trails on Greenways Road, Zone 1,8 and 10. It has trapped menace-causing mosquitoes like Culex and also trapped Aedes ones. Once we complete our trials, we will give our findings for upgrading the device,” said a Corporation health official.The company has developed two versions of the device - indoor and outdoor.
“Body odour, temperature and exhale carbondioxide attract the mosquitoes to the human body. So, we have used Pheromone in the solution to mimic human body odour, carbondioxide and also LED lights to create human body-like heat,” said Rajasekaran.“Once trails are over, we will mass produce it and commercialise,” Rajesekaran said. He also has plans to instal the device across the IIT-M campus to make it a mosquito-free zone.
Dengue trapper
Guhan Jayaraman, Professor, Dept of Biotech-nology said that the trapper will help to get rid of mos-quitoes, while repellent only chase it away. They are testing the device in the IIT campus.