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The Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment

LITE

Accelerate delivery and development of new vector control diagnostics with LITE.

Established by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Vector Biology Department, world-renowned for its research on insecticide resistance in disease vectors, LITE works with a range of industry and academic partners, including the Innovative Vector Control Centre (IVCC), to speed up the development and delivery of new or improved vector control products.

LITE

Integrated Mosquito Compound Testing Facility

It specialises in testing chemical compounds designed to control mosquito populations. Its state-of-the-art facilities are based at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where a skilled technical team is supported by experts from the internationally recognised Vector Biology Department. Through strong global partnerships, LITE maintains a wide variety of well characterised mosquito colonies for testing.

What LITE does:

  • Maintain mosquito colonies: LITE rears a wide range of insecticide susceptible and insecticide resistant mosquito strains, representing major disease carrying species with known resistance mechanisms.
  • Run validated biological assays: It offers a variety of standardised tests to measure how new chemicals or products affect mosquito survival, behaviour, and other life traits, as well as post market assessments of product performance.
  • Provide chemical analysis: The LITE team conducts insecticide quantification using HPLC based methods, including CIPAC approved procedures for Insecticide Treated Nets.
  • Measure behavioural responses: It offers expertise in quantitative behavioural assays that help inform product design by capturing detailed mosquito responses to chemical exposure.
  • Design new assays: LITE provides a bespoke assay development service, creating new biological or behavioural tests tailored to meet specific client needs.
  • Operate to GLP standards: The LITE laboratories and insectaries are part of the UK Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) compliance monitoring programme.