What is a gene drive?

A gene drive is a type of genetic engineering technique that modifies genes so that they don’t follow the typical rules of heredity. Gene drives dramatically increase the likelihood that a particular suite of genes will be passed onto the next generation, allowing the genes to rapidly spread through a population and override natural selection. Thanks to CRISPR-Cas9, the gene editing technology harnessed from bacteria, gene drives are becoming easier for researchers to build.