Mapping research and governance needs for gene drives

J. Delborne, J. Kuzma, F. Gould, E. Frow, C. Leitschuh and J. Sudweeks,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S4-S12. 2018.

This special issue represents both deep and broad thinking about gene drives. The papers were first drafted nearly two years ago, and since then have been reviewed and revised to flesh out key arguments and take account of ongoing developments in the field. This field has moved very fast indeed! Technical research publications have increased in number; NASEM released a major report in June 2016; and workshops have proliferated. This special issue does not capture or summarize all of this activity. Instead, we offer a collection of diverse, thoughtful papers that outline a kind of roadmap for the research and governance needs of the still emerging field of gene drives. While we would encourage a front-to-back read of this special issue, the remainder of this introduction provides brief summaries to give readers the broadest perspective on this volume as well as guiding them to articles of personal interest.