Dr Richard Naylor keeps about 50,000 bedbugs at his laboratory in the Forest of Dean, where he studies the insects as part of his scientific work.
His research involves sleeping with bedbugs, an unusual approach that has made the insects part of his working environment as well as the subject of his laboratory activity. Despite this close contact, Naylor says the bedbugs do not bother him.
The available information does not provide further details about the purpose of the research, how the insects are housed or what findings the work has produced. The latest known situation is that Naylor continues to maintain the laboratory population and use direct contact with the bedbugs in his scientific work.