The life scientific : 2/8 [Janet Hemingway].

Part of a series of programmes in which Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work. This part features Janet Hemingway, a vector biologist, who researches ways to prevent the spread of infectious mosquitoes. She is also a director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and a fellow of the Royal Society. They talk about the decreasing trend in malaria numbers and the need for caution, as well as the life-cycle of the malaria bug and a brief history of vector biology. The success of pyrethroid treated mosquito nets and their use is discussed, but also why new nets will need to be treated with a different insecticide to remain resilient. Hemingway then about her childhood, schooling and university (zoology and genetics degree) where, after someone came to speak about mosquitoes, she set up her own degree project on them. Later she also taught students and a clip is played from one of those she supervised, Hilary Ranson, who speaks about Janet and the work with insecticide resistance. Al-Khalili and Hemingway then talk further about insecticide resistance and her research about how an insect's basic mechanisms, including their DNA, makes them resistant. In particular, she looked at mosquitoes and resistance in the field. They talk further about insect DNA, as well as their vast populations, and quick resistance to insecticide. Another, who is connected with Hemingway's network of international teaching of vector biologists, Maureen Coetzee, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in South Africa, speaks about the impact of this collaboration. Al-Khalili and Hemingway talk further about the seriousness of insecticide resistance, and she considers the need for collecting evidence correctly in scientific studies. She is looking at new insect nets with different combinations of insecticide to combat mosquitoes. They then talk about her successful role at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Hilary Ranson speaks again, on Hemingway's leadership qualities. Hemingway then talks about the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) she set up, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is involved in public health insecticides, diagnostic tools and disease transmission communication. Finally they talk about the shifts in malaria control over the last ten years.