
 
 Keven Drews, The Canadian Press 
 
 
 
 
 
 VANCOUVER -- Enduring 180,000 bites is the scientific price a British Columbia biologist had to pay so her team of researchers could suck a little life out of the worldwide bedbug epidemic. 
 
 A team of biologists, a chemist and students from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., announced Monday that they have identified a set of chemicals that can lure bedbugs into traps and keep them there. 
 
 The findings are significant because the pests, which were once thought eradicated in industrial countries, have reappeared over the past two decades, infesting everything from low-income housing to pricey hotels and causing health concerns, too. 
 
 Biologist Regine Gries, who with her husband Prof. Gerhard Gries, form part of the team, said she was initially a little reluctant and disgusted to act as a host so the pests could feed and scientists could gather and analyze the bugs skin and feces. 
 
 She said she got over those feelings because she, unlike others, was resistant to the bites. 
 
 "I calmed myself down thinking when human beings were still living in caves, they were probably bitten by bedbugs, by fleas, by mice and who knows what, all these insects associated with humans," she said. "So I think humans can endure this, and I'm lucky enough that I have no side effects, that I just can handle it." 
 
 Not only can bedbug bites cause rashes and itching, but a recent study linked them to Chagas, a disease that can cause serious heart and digestive problems in those who are infected, said SFU Chemistry Prof. Robert Britton, who is also a team member. 
 
 The team is now working with a company based out of Victoria, B.C., to develop the first effective and affordable trap to detect and monitor infestations. 
 
 The discoveries were made in three separate phases and began when the Gries and their students began the research about eight years ago. 
 
 Gerhard Gries said they initially found a pheromone blend -- chemical substances secreted by animals for detection -- in the skin of bedbugs. He said they attracted the pests in lab experiments but not in infested apartments. 
 
 He said the researchers realized a component was missing. Britton joined the team and used the university's state-of-the-art spectrometers to study the chemicals Regine Gries found in the bedbugs' shed skin. 
 
 Britton, the Gries and their students then discovered a histamine, a molecule that had previously eluded researchers, signalled a "safe shelter" to the bedbugs, meaning once they came into contact with it they remained in place. 
 
 Gerhard Gries said his wife further studied the bedbugs' feces and found three new components. He said the combination of all the components and the histamine became the lure they sought. 
 
 He said bedbugs are lured to the trap by the airborne components, and once they come into contact with the histamine, which is placed on a piece of filter paper, they remain put. 
 
 Britton said the trap's chemical costs are just under a dime. 
 
 Gerhard Gries said a cardboard box served as a trap during the experiments. 
 
 "One of the real benefits of this new technology will be that it is effective and affordable," he said. 
 
 The research has been published in the leading chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, and was funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in partnership with Contech Enterprises Inc. ||||| After 180,000 bedbug bites and eight years of study, Simon Fraser University scientists say they have invented a new kind of bedbug bait and trap. 
 
 The trap, which will be available commercially next year, will work by emitting a set of chemical attractants, or pheromones, that lure the bedbugs into traps, and keep them there. 
 
 Biologist Regine Gries discovered the pheromones after acting as a host for more than a thousand bedbugs during the research, which also involved her husband, biology professor Gerhard Gries, SFU chemist Robert Britton and a team of students. 
 
 "The biggest challenge in dealing with bedbugs is to detect the infestation at an early stage," said Gerhard Gries in a news release on Monday. 
 
 "This trap will help landlords, tenants, and pest-control professionals determine whether premises have a bedbug problem, so that they can treat it quickly. It will also be useful for monitoring the treatment’s effectiveness." 
 
 Regine Gries endured 180,000 bites from the team's bedbug colony as part of the research, the release said, because she is immune to the bites, getting only a slight rash instead of the usual itching and swelling most people suffer. 
 
 Why bedbugs love biting us so much 
 
 Bedbugs are wingless pests that feed on humans as their preferred source of blood. The small, flat insects were all but wiped out after the Second World War but have returned with a vengeance to Canadian homes, hotels and shelters. 
 
 The insects will bite all over a human body, favouring the face, neck, upper torso, arms and hands. They can go for weeks or months without feeding, depending on the temperature. 
 
 The Gries research began eight years ago, when they initially isolated a pheromone mix that attracted bedbugs in lab experiments, but not in bedbug-infested apartments. 
 
 "We realized that a highly unusual component must be missing — one that we couldn’t find using our regular gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric tools," said Gerhard Gries. 
 
 Britton was then brought in to the team to study the tiny amounts of chemicals Regine Gries had isolated from shed bedbug skin and figure out why bedbugs find human skin so appealing. 
 
 After two years, Britton and the Gries discovered the answer is histamine, a chemical which signals "safe shelter" to the bloodsucking pests. 
 
 Crucially, once in contact with histamine, the insects stay there regardless of how hungry for human blood they are. 
 
 Key to bedbug trap is in the feces 
 
 ​However, despite their extensive research, the Gries and their team still could not combine the histamine or pheromone blend to make an effective trap — so they began analyzing airborne chemicals from bedbug feces. 
 
 Five months later, the team had discovered three new compounds that had never before been reported for bedbugs, completing the combination of attractants needed for the trap. 
 
 Their bedbug trap has been successfully tested in bedbug-infested apartments in Metro Vancouver and the team is now working with Victoria-based Contech Enterprises Inc. to develop the trap commercially. 
 
 Unfortunately, this means Regine Gries is still feeding the bedbug colony every week. 
 
 "I’m not too thrilled about this...But knowing how much this technology will benefit so many people, it’s all worth it."
– If, someday, bedbugs are no longer a cause for concern, remember to thank Regine Gries. She's a biologist in British Columbia who was willing to tolerate 180,000 bites as a host for the creatures so that her team could study them. "I calmed myself down thinking when human beings were still living in caves, they were probably bitten by bedbugs, by fleas, by mice and who knows what," she tells the Canadian Press via CTV. "So I think humans can endure this, and I'm lucky enough that I have no side effects, that I just can handle it." It seems her work has paid off. The researchers, including Gries' husband, found a histamine molecule that, to the bugs, indicates a "safe space," the Press reports; once the bugs find it, they stick around. The researchers lured them to the trap using a pheromone blend and components from the bedbugs' own feces; the histamine then keeps them there. The cost of the chemicals? Less than a dime per trap. "The biggest challenge in dealing with bedbugs is to detect the infestation at an early stage," Gries' husband tells Simon Fraser University News. "This trap will help landlords, tenants, and pest-control professionals determine whether premises have a bedbug problem, so that they can treat it quickly." The trap should be on the market next year, CBC reports. That's particularly good news for Chicago, which was reported earlier this year to be America's worst city for bedbugs. (Another researcher suffered bee stings in the name of science.)