SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WOWO): The battle against a virus making international headlines has opened a new front at Notre Dame.

The CDC says pregnant women are being advised to avoid certain countries where a specific mosquito is spreading the Zika virus. It is an emerging mosquito-borne disease that is believed to be causing birth defects in thousands of babies.

Notre Dame researchers are hoping to increase the public’s understanding of the virus and help to save lives. The same species of mosquito is responsible for spreading Yellow Fever, Dengue and others. They are looking to sequence the mosquito’s genome, which will help understand how and why the mosquito carries the Zika virus. If the mosquitoes can be made immune, the virus will struggle to spread.