FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Maj. Scotty Long is no historian, but his work sometimes leads him to extract DNA from century-old mosquitoes kept by the Smithsonian Institution.
Long is an epidemiologist with the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps and chief of the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit — part of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick. Mapping parts of a genome from mosquitoes known for transmitting malaria could lead to the development of a hand-held device to help soldiers pinpoint exactly what type of insects they are encountering in the field, Long said.
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