Brussels students built a hornet trap they will take to a Paris contest

Students at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel have built a trap they hope can target Asian hornets without dosing honeybees, and they will present it at the iGEM synthetic-biology contest in Paris from November 13 to 16. The university's press office reported on November 9, 2026, that the system uses a camera and a model the team says recognizes an Asian hornet with more than 99 percent accuracy, then fits the insect with a sticker of protein fibres carrying the soil fungus Beauveria bassiana. The idea is that the hornet carries the fungus back to the nest. The fungus is already used as a pesticide in agriculture. The announcement does not report a field trial in which a nest was cleared.

The students published their protocols and results on October 21 on the iGEM wiki, and they have run workshops on artificial intelligence and synthetic biology for primary and secondary schools. The work sits in the laboratory of Han Remaut. Asian hornets prey on honeybees and other pollinators, and ordinary traps often catch only a few workers while the queen keeps laying. The news is a student prototype headed to a competition, plus the school workshops. It is not a device that has been shown to protect a hive.