For the first time, the UAE was represented at the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition in Boston thanks to ambitious students from New York University, Abu Dhabi, (NYUAD) who won a bronze medal for an invention that would lessen the spread of deadly mosquito-related diseases.

The team of eight biology, mathematics and engineering students developed a mosquito trap that uses chemical compounds in the E. coli bacteria to attract mosquitoes, which are then killed by an electric barrier. The contraption is self-sustaining, meaning that it doesn't need constant human interference, because the dead mosquitos fall into the E. coli bed, providing nutrition for the bacteria.

With the assistance of several NYUAD professors including Assistant Professor in Engineering Kourosh Salehi Ashtiani, who acted as the group's primary mentor, the students were able to snag one of a limited number of bronze medals.

Students Krishna Gaire, 19, Jovan Jovancevic, 20, Muhammad Mirza, 20, Tina Kim, 20, Dhanya Baby, 20, Quan Vuong, 21, Sahan Tampoe, 21, and Shien Yang Lee, 22, specifically looked at diseases that have no cure but are very common in third-world countries.

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, whose scholarship was the basis to the team's research, 750,000 deaths are caused by mosquitoes every year, with malaria alone hitting more than 200 million people annually.

For now, the group focused on a specific species of mosquitoes, the Aedes Aegypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquitoes for their role in spreading a number of tropical diseases such as yellow fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya.

“If we can come up with an environmentally sustainable trap to target these mosquitoes, it could affect a lot of people,” Baby, who is a biology student, told The National . This is why, she added, the group wanted to develop a device using chemical compounds that act as common attractants.

So far, the trap hasn't been used outside of a laboratory but Jovancevic said that continued testing would determine if it was fit for use. For the engineering student, representing the Middle East in the international competition was a breakthrough in itself.

“We wanted to create this first step for future generations, one for our university and also for the region,” he told The National.