Monitoring Gene Drives: A Living Literature Review on Gene Drive Research
Monitoring Gene Drives: A Living Literature Review on Gene Drive Research
Tags: Gene driveInternational Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Monitoring Gene Drives, 2025.
Literature reviews have always been essential for summarizing the current state of a research field. However, in areas that evolve rapidly—like gene drive technology—traditional reviews can become outdated quickly. While peer-reviewed research is invaluable for pinpointing knowledge gaps and shaping best practices, it can be challenging for practitioners, and even researchers, to keep up with the latest insights due to time constraints, paywalls, and the complexity of different research methods. We believe a more agile, inclusive, and accessible approach is needed to keep scientific understanding timely and relevant. Living literature reviews can help address this need by providing ongoing, curated updates of the latest research.
Unlike classical genetically modified organisms, the first gene drive organisms likely to be released will be wild species (e.g., Anopheles mosquitoes, screwworm flies, or mice) that can cross borders. This raises multifaceted regulatory, ecological, and ethical questions, sparking complex international discussions. To navigate these debates, stakeholders require current, evidence-based information about gene drive research. Monitoring Gene Drives serves as an accessible, continuously updated resource consolidating the most recent findings on gene drive research. This initiative aims to support informed policymaking, decision-making, and public dialogue by ensuring that stakeholders have accurate and up-to-date insights in a field where new studies are constantly reshaping the landscape.
