TropIQ, together with researchers from the University of Washington, was awarded a grant of 1,3 million USD from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their research into new mosquito repellants. About 90 million people contract dengue fever every year from mosquito bites. The amount of people that contract malaria from mosquitos is estimated at about 200 million. Using AI, TropIQ aims to develop a better mosquito repellant.
The discovery of DEET during World War 2 in order to protect soldiers from malaria was a great step for repellants. While most of the research was thought to be forgotten, Google recently rediscovered some of the information, aiding TropIQ in their research.