The GeneConvene Virtual Institute:
- An initiative of the GeneConvene Global Collaborative,
- Within the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
- Aggregates, curates and shares knowledge to advance understanding of genetic biocontrol technologies, such as gene drive, as well as selfish genetic elements found throughout nature.
GeneConvene Global Collaborative Webinar Series:
Invasive Species Management:
Informing Gene Drive Considerations
Webinars are recorded;
Register to attend and to receive link to recording or check HERE
October 13, 2021 11:00-12:30 EDT
Conservation in the Anthropocene:
Can community ecology help avoid unintended outcomes and improve conservation success?
Dr. Dean Pearson, USDA FS Rocky Mountain Research Station.
October 27, 2021 11:00-12:30 EDT
Targeting Surveillance for Invasive Agricultural Pests and Diseases
Dr. Gericke Cook, USDA/APHIS Veterinary Services, Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health
Nov 10, 2021 11:00-12:30 EST
Monitoring gene drive vertebrates in the environment
Dr. Antoinette Piaggio, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services/
National Wildlife Research Center
GeneConvene Virtual Institute eNewsletter
The Latest About Gene Drive and Genetic Biocontrol
The GeneConvene Virtual Institute is built on a database of content in the categories shown in the tab labels below. Content coming into the Virtual Institute in these categories can be seen in each tab as well as all of the content in each of the categories, organized chronologically.
Featured Content
A common gene drive language eases regulatory process and eco-evolutionary extensions
P. Verma, R. G. Reeves and C. S. Gokhale, BMC Ecology and Evolution, 21:156. 2021.
Synthetic gene drive technologies aim to spread transgenic constructs into wild populations even when they impose organismal fitness disadvantages. The extraordinary diversity of plausible drive mechanisms and the range of selective parameters they may encounter makes it very difficult to convey their relative predicted properties, particularly where multiple approaches are combined. The sheer number of published manuscripts in this field, experimental and theoretical, the numerous techniques resulting in an explosion in the gene drive vocabulary hinder the regulators’ point of view. We address this concern by defining a simplified parameter based language of synthetic drives. Employing the classical population dynamics approach, we show that different drive construct (replacement) mechanisms can be condensed and evaluated on an equal footing even where they incorporate multiple replacement drives approaches. Using a common language, it is then possible to compare various model properties, a task desired by regulators and policymakers. The generalization allows us to extend the study of the invasion dynamics of replacement drives analytically and, in a spatial setting, the resilience of the released drive constructs. The derived framework is available as a standalone tool. Besides comparing available drive constructs, our tool is also useful for educational purpose. Users can also explore the evolutionary dynamics of future hypothetical combination drive scenarios. Thus, our results appraise the properties and robustness of drives and provide an intuitive and objective way for risk assessment, informing policies, and enhancing public engagement with proposed and future gene drive approaches.
Screen shot of DrMxR dashboard.
More related to this:
Evolutionary simulations of Z-linked suppression gene drives
Gene Drive: Modern Miracle or Environmental Disaster
Mosquito Sexual Selection and Reproductive Control Programs
Gene drives accelerate evolution – but we need brakes
