Why Dr Paris uses her bare arms in the fight against Australia's mosquito-borne diseases
'For most of the ones I feed, I just feel a little sensation,' the University of Melbourne medical entomologist says. 'Some species do have a bit more of a mechanical feel to them.'
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She describes the buzzing cage of mosquitoes as her 'colony', and 'to make sure they stay healthy' Paris feeds them her blood about once a week.
'If I am running an experiment or want to collect more eggs for upcoming work, this can increase to about four times a week.'
Her research is focused on reducing the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases to humans, such as the flesh-eating Buruli ulcer – that if untreated can cause disfiguration and tissue loss.
Paris enjoys sharing her work – and methods – with her community of 13,000 followers on Instagram.
The 35-year-old says she moved to Instagram and away from professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn, or even Bluesky, to 'reach people that are not necessarily already looking for scientific content'.
'[It] has been very rewarding and there are lots of people that ask lots of questions,' she says.
Paris's interest in mosquito research began when she started her PhD at the University of Melbourne, after moving to Australia from Germany.
'I wanted to do something for the local community and understand local mosquitoes [and] locally transmitted diseases like Ross River virus and Buruli ulcer.'
Cases of Buruli ulcer have risen sharply in recent years, from 135 in 2020 to 238 in late 2023, according to the Victorian Department of Health.
The disease, which is spreading across Victoria, is also found in far north Queensland and the Northern Territory.
While possums have long been suspected to play a role in the spread of Buruli ulcer, a 2024 study provided the first strong evidence linking mosquitoes to its transmission.
Paris and other researchers are trying to find out how exactly mosquitoes acquire and transmit the pathogen to humans.
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Paris said she was shocked when she first saw her scientific colleagues feeding the insects their blood. 'I was planning big experiments and wanting to have my own mosquito colony, so I felt like I wanted to try it at least once to see if that is something that I can do.'
Now it's a part of her weekly lab routine.
'My body has certainly adapted to it … I can feed a cage of mosquitoes and then it's itchy right after, and then I need to be good about not scratching, so I distract myself for about an hour.'
Researchers feeding their own colonies is not compulsory, Paris says. 'There will always be volunteers around that can do that, so no one has to feed mosquitoes if they don't want to and that's totally fine.'
But outside the lab, getting involuntarily bitten by mosquitoes is a completely different story.
Paris says if a mosquito bites her on the ankle while she's in the garden, it might itch for days.
Each bite is different, depending on the location on her body and the species of mosquito doing the biting, she says.
There are about 300 species of mosquitoes in Australia, how much they itch depends on the person they bite, she explains, adding that the bump and itch is caused by someone's immune response to the bite, so it very person specific.
Her top tip? Don't scratch the bite as it only makes the itching worse.
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