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Logo du VCPEC, Vector Control Product Evaluation Centre, Institut Pierre Richet, BouakéVCPECInstitut Pierre Richet
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High view of the row of experimental huts and their green verandas, in front of the vegetation

Our facilities

An experimental hut station, an insectary, an insecticide testing laboratory, a molecular biology laboratory and study villages.

Drag to turn the hut

Step inside an M'bé hut

  1. 1
    The eaves

    Mosquitoes enter through the gap between wall and roof, as in local homes.

  2. 2
    The net under test

    The product being evaluated, hung over a volunteer sleeper.

  3. 3
    The veranda trap

    It catches mosquitoes leaving the hut, to measure the repellent effect.

  4. 4
    The morning collection

    Dead or alive, fed or unfed, every mosquito is counted and scored.

Platforms

The M'bé experimental hut station

About 35 km from Bouaké, huts built like local homes, with veranda traps, host trials on wild mosquitoes. The GLP-compliant station is described in the literature as a WHOPES-labelled site. Its mosquitoes, mainly Anopheles coluzzii, are highly resistant to pyrethroids yet still susceptible to chlorfenapyr, a demanding test bed for new-generation products.

  • Wild pyrethroid-resistant anopheles
  • High-intensity resistance, several mechanisms
  • GLP-compliant station
  • Mosquitoes collected and scored every morning

Malaria Journal 2013

The insectary

The insectary rears two reference colonies, the susceptible Anopheles gambiae Kisumu strain and an Anopheles coluzzii colony, routinely checked by bioassays and molecular biology. A guinea pig animal house provides their blood meals.

  • Susceptible Kisumu strain
  • Anopheles coluzzii colony
  • Guinea pig animal house
  • Testing possible all year round

The insecticide testing laboratory

Cone, tube, tunnel and CDC bottle tests, on nets and on blocks treated for indoor spraying. It includes a net washing and storage room and a chemical store.

  • Cone and tunnel tests
  • Standardised net washing
  • Treated blocks for indoor spraying

Molecular biology

Species identification within the Anopheles gambiae complex, genotyping of resistance mutations, kdr and Ace-1, and ELISA tests on collected mosquitoes.

  • Molecular species identification
  • kdr and Ace-1 genotyping
  • ELISA tests

Parasites & Vectors 2021PLoS ONE 2025

Gbêkê study sites

Villages of the Gbêkê region and neighbourhoods of Bouaké, where entomological surveys and cluster-randomised trials take place.

  • Transmission monitored over several seasons
  • Community-scale trials

Malaria Journal 2023

Data and archives

A secure server with access rights, validated statistical software and double data entry. Protocols, raw data and reports are kept in a GLP archive inspected every year.

  • Secure server
  • Double data entry
  • GLP archive