Some researchers believe
gene drive technology could one day control populations of mosquitoes that spread malaria.
Gene drive technology might limit the ability of Anopheles gambiae mosquito to transmit malaria to humans.
«Responsible research on gene drives and
gene drive technology requires consideration of values and public engagement throughout the process,» said committee co-chair Elizabeth Heitman, associate professor of medical ethics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society.
Helen Wallace, the director of GeneWatch UK, a biotechnology watchdog group in Buxton, applauds the report for recognizing
that gene drive technology may have harmful effects on other species.
Arizona State University biologist Jim Collins, who convened a group of experts to explore the potential applications for
gene drive technology earlier this year, echoed Esvelt, saying, «we need different arrangements.
But only with the emergence of a genetic tool called CRISPR / Cas9 — the bottle opener that unleashed the genie — has
gene drive technology offered the prospect of providing a speedy means to end some of the world's greatest health and ecological scourges.
UNLEASHED The genetic tool CRISPR / Cas 9 has opened up
gene drive technology to provide potential solutions for a multitude of problems in global health and ecology.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sees so much promise in
gene drive technology that it plans to double spending on its Target Malaria initiative, which aims to create systems for driving genes in two species of malaria mosquitoes, to $ 70 million.
Gene drive technology poses serious and potentially irreversible threats to biodiversity, as well as national sovereignty, peace, and food security.This week, international conservation and environmental leaders are calling on governments at the 2016 UN Convention on Biodiversity to establish a moratorium on the controversial genetic extinction... more
Implementing just sterile male and RIDL would take years and would, in the interim, allow development of
the gene drive technologies whilst at the same time driving down mosquito populations and thereby reducing the current pressure on threatened bird species.
Not exact matches
On the supply side, evolving
technology and industry dynamics have
driven cutting edge research and investments in diverse areas like
gene therapy, early detection / diagnostics, personalized medicine and telemedicine, to better meet the demand for cost efficient and accessible healthcare.
To receive funding from Safe
Genes, teams focused on
gene -
drive technology must work on controls plus at least one of the program's other focus areas — remediation or inhibitors.
In addition to DARPA environmentalists, biosafety experts and leading
gene drive researchers say a new approach to mitigation and control is needed for the
technology to advance safely.
The initiative, called Safe
Genes, comes at a time when so - called «
gene drive» systems, which override the standard rules of
gene inheritance and natural selection, are raising hopes among some scientists that the
technology could alter or suppress populations of disease - carrying insects or other pests in as few as 20 generations.
Esvelt shares those concerns but sees military support as the only way, for the time being, to advance
gene -
drive technology, while making it safer for eventual deployment.
But he wanted the convention to call for greater transparency in how the
technology is studied in labs and deployed in the field, for instance by creating a mandatory
gene -
drive registry.
But
gene -
drive technology tilts the odds, so that a specific change to one allele is inherited by a higher proportion of progeny.
Using the genomic
technologies he's learned at the IGB, Woolbright hopes to develop a research program that investigates climate -
driven changes in species interactions at the
gene level.
«Every powerful
technology is a national security issue,» says Kevin Esvelt, an evolutionary engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who won DARPA funding to limit the spread of ge
technology is a national security issue,» says Kevin Esvelt, an evolutionary engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Cambridge, who won DARPA funding to limit the spread of ge
Technology in Cambridge, who won DARPA funding to limit the spread of
gene drives.
But there is enough awareness of the peril accompanying the promise that researchers and philanthropic organizations interested in the
technology recently asked the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to weigh in on
gene drives.
In the past two years, researchers have lab - tested
gene drives in yeast1, fruit flies2 and mosquitoes3, 4 that are based on a
gene - editing
technology called CRISPR — Cas9.
But at a meeting in June, the secretive group took stock of a new threat:
gene drives, a genetic - engineering
technology that can swiftly spread modifications through entire populations and could help vanquish malaria - spreading mosquitoes.
«A
gene drive works by distorting inheritance in its favor,» says Congress participant and biochemist Kevin Esvelt of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, one of the field's leading researchers.
One of them — the CRISPR - powered
gene drive — is a case study in the power, and potential risks, of genome - editing
technology.
Gene drive is so different from other
technologies involving genetic modification that it requires a whole new way of thinking about how to evaluate and regulate it, says Jennifer Kuzma, a natural and social scientist at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh who helped organize a February workshop there.
A separate NAS committee is in the process of evaluating
gene -
drive technology, which still faces both scientific and regulatory roadblocks.
When committee member Jennifer Kuzma, a policy analyst at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, asked what exactly represents a «different type of risk» from existing products, several regulators invoked another nascent
technology, known as
gene drive.
CRISPR
gene -
drive technology is developing at a breakneck pace, and has the potential to dramatically alter ecosystems in unexpected ways.
Gene drives might not work well enough to eradicate Zika or malaria, but an improved version of the
technology may help them deliver on their promise
The research is part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)-- a global project using the latest
gene - sequencing
technology to reveal the genetic changes
driving the disease.
Gene drive research also raises regulatory concerns about biosafety, biosecurity, and the potential for this
technology intended for human benefit to be intentionally misused for harmful purposes.
«The science and
technology associated with
gene drives is developing very quickly,» said committee co-chair James P. Collins, Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Natural History and the Environment in the School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University.
«Engineered
gene drives and the future: Entomologists review pros, cons and regulatory issues surrounding new
technology that could help halt the spread of diseases such as Zika virus, dengue fever and malaria.»
Jim Thomas of the Ottawa - based ETC Group said the U.S. military's substantial funding of
gene drive research «raises alarming question about this entire field,» and he called the
technology «powerful and dangerous,» warning that it «could have disastrous impacts on peace, food security, and the environment.»
The team has outlined in the eLife publication numerous precautionary measures intended to guide the safe and responsible development of
gene drives, many of which were not possible with earlier
technologies.
Karl Campbell from Island Conservation reported on his organization's investigation into using
gene -
drive technology as potentially the most targeted, effective, and economic technique for eliminating invasive mice and rats.
The new
technology, known as a
gene drive, is genetic engineering on an entirely new scale: It makes it possible not just to modify organisms in the laboratory, but to edit the
genes of entire populations in the wild.
The scientists who are developing
gene drives know how ethically loaded this
technology is, and, to their credit, they are trying to put the issue out there for public discussion.
While differences in the molecular biology of species make it difficult to predict whether
gene drives will work in any given species, the > 97 % efficiency observed to date in both yeast and flies suggests that the
technology may be broadly applicable.
The hotly debated
gene drive, which uses the
gene splicing
technology CRISPR, is looking to wipe out the Zika - causing Aedes aegypti mosquito population.
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology A model system to evaluate the dynamics and safety of
gene drive applications
To determine the genetic profile of a patient's tumor and identify cancer -
driving genes, our team of experts uses advanced genomic sequencing
technology.
This workshop will explore the application of genomic
technologies (CRISPR,
Gene Drives, RNAi and enginereed sterility) with a variety of conservation problems.
Because the environment is shared by everyone, he is deeply concerned with ensuring that
gene drives and other inherently collective
technologies are only used after transparent, broadly inclusive, and well - informed discussions.
Kevin Esvelt, Wyss
Technology Development Fellow, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School (
gene drives, CRISPR / Cas9, phage - assisted continuous evolution, molecular evolutionary engineering) An inventor of
technologies that harness evolution, Kevin studies ways of using molecular tools to alter populations and ecosystems.
This workshop explored the application of genomic
technologies (CRISPR,
Gene Drives, RNAi and enginereed sterility) with a variety of conservation problems.
«Pessimistically, it is now possible that Māori may never get co-governance in the discussion and / or development of
gene -
drive technologies in Aotearoa.
The harmonious interplay of engine output, power transfer, chassis
technology and aerodynamic balance provides a captivating showcase for the familiar M
genes — in day - to - day
driving and beyond.