Gene Drive in the News
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
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 However, in areas that evolve rapidly—like gene drive technology—traditional reviews can become outdated quickly.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 ...
Ghana hosts 2nd Global Congress on new, emerging genetic biocontrol technologies
Tags: Africa, Genetic biocontrol, Policy, Regulation, Stakeholder engagementAma Kudom-Agyemang, EnviroNews Nigeria, 2025.
From Monday, March 17 to Thursday, March 20, 2025, Ghana is hosting a gathering of science, health and communication experts to deliberate on and contribute to innovative scientific exploits for Africa’s health sector. The over 150 African national and international ...
Gene drive modified mosquitoes offer new tool for malaria elimination efforts
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Malaria, PolicyConrad Duncan, Imperial, 2025.
Transmission Zero, a research team from Imperial College London in partnership with the Ifakara Health Institute and the National Institute of Medical Research in Tanzania, has developed genetic technology which renders a mosquito unable to transmit the malaria parasite and has a ...
Making sex deadly for insects could control pests that carry disease and harm crops
Tags: Genetically modified organisms, Mosquitoes, Population suppression, Risk and safetyBill Sullivan, The Conversation, 2025.
Insects do a lot more harm than ruining picnics. Some insects spread devastating diseases, while others cause staggering economic losses in agriculture. To control some of these pests, scientists are developing males that make sex a deadly event. The stakes are high. Mosquitoes ...
A Gene Drive with a Disappearing Act Can Aid Pest Control
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene editing, Resistance, Self limitingShelby Bradford, PhD, The Scientist, 2025.
Geneticists developed a gene drive that reverts insecticide-resistant mutations in insects, using a system that gradually eliminates itself from the genome. This breakthrough offers a potential solution to combat insecticide resistance without permanently altering species, and ...
Progress made for blackchin tilapia control in Thailand
Tags: Agriculture, Asia, Ecology, Invasive speciesThe Fish Site, 2025.
Despite tilapia being one of the most widely farmed fish in the global aquaculture industry, invasive populations of the blackchin tilapia - a cichlid native to West Africa - have been devastating the productivity of aquaculture operations throughout Thailand. However, a ...
Uganda expands genetically modified mosquito survey in Mukono, Kalangala islands
Tags: Africa, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Malaria, Stakeholder engagement, Target malariaDavid Ssekayinga, Monitor, 2025.
The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) has extended its research on the behaviour of genetically modified mosquitoes to more islands on Lake Victoria. The two islands where similar research will be conducted are Sselinya in Kalangala District and Koome in Mukono District. ...
Dissecting The Sterility Phenotype Of Drosophila Suzukii Males
Tags: Fruit fly, Pest management, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Evrim Ağacı, The Pinnacle Gazette, 2025.
Groundbreaking findings on gene-edited males provide insights for pest management strategies. Researchers have made significant strides in controlling the invasive fruit pest Drosophila suzukii, commonly known as the spotted wing drosophila, utilizing innovative genetic ...
Selfish Genetic Elements and Meiotic Drive in Drosophila
Tags: Fruit fly, Selfish genetic elements, Sex distorterNature Research Intelligence, 2025.
Selfish genetic elements are segments of DNA that can enhance their own transmission to the next generation, often at a cost to the organism's overall fitness. In Drosophila, or fruit flies, these elements can lead to a phenomenon known as meiotic drive, where certain alleles are ...
Gene Drive Technology Offers Hope For Malaria Vector Control
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Malaria, Population suppression, Vector controlEvrim Ağacı, The Pinnacle Gazette, 2025.
A team of scientists has developed an innovative gene drive targeting Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, a key malaria vector in urban areas. Their strategy uses CRISPR technology to disrupt the doublesex (dsx) gene, crucial for female fertility, thereby reducing mosquito ...
Genetically Engineered Male Insects Shorten Their Mates’ Lifespans
Tags: Fruit fly, Genetic biocontrol, Mosquito husbandry, Mosquitoes, Population suppression, Vector controlSneha Khedkar, The Scientist, 2025.
On a still night, as the air is thick with silence, the sharp, whining buzz of a mosquito shatters the calm. These blood-sucking insects that disturb people’s deep slumber are also responsible for spreading diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, malaria and Zika fever, which ...
‘Toxic Male Technique’ promises faster biocontrol of mosquito populations
Tags: Biological control, Genetic engineering, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Macquarie University, Phys.org, 2025.
A new biological pest control method that targets the lifespan of female insects could significantly reduce the threat of insect pests such as disease-carrying mosquitoes by offering faster and more effective results than current methods. Described in Nature Communications, the ...
Genetically modified mosquitoes could soon be released in one Australian state: everything you need to know
Tags: Genetically modified mosquitoes, OceaniaMaddison Leach, 9 News, 2025.
Mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever cause hundreds of thousands of deaths every year and a new venture wants to change that by introducing genetically modified mosquitoes (GMMs) right here in Australia. That venture is Oxitec Australia, a collaboration between the ...
Kenya Set to Introduce GMO Maize After Public Consultation Period
Tags: Africa, Agriculture, Policy, RegulationMartin Olage, Mwakilishi, 2025.
The National Biosafety Authority (NBA) has completed a month-long public consultation regarding the potential market introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) maize, specifically known as BT Maize. This consultation, initiated in mid-December after an official notice on December ...
A Tiny but Mighty Helper Stops Mosquito Viruses in Their Tracks
Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, The Scientist, 2024.Luciano Moreira, a vector biologist and the project lead of the World Mosquito Program in Brazil, has always been driven by solving people’s problems. As a kid, he concocted blends of house-cleaning products to eliminate common home pests; in adulthood, Moreira channeled his ...
Healthcare delivery in Africa still a big challenge, health experts warn
Tags: Africa, Policy, RegulationKBC News, 2024.
The adoption or harnessing of emerging technologies in the healthcare system in Africa to improve healthcare delivery remains low. It is reported that while the continent forms 18% of the global population, Africa accounts for 25% of the global diseases. Though there are ...
Genetic study solves the mystery of ‘selfish’ B chromosomes in rye
Tags: Chromosomal drive, Selfish genetic elementsLeibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Phys.org, 2024.
Some chromosomes, such as B chromosomes, can increase their inheritance rate to their own advantage. These extra chromosomes are found in many plants, animals, and fungi and rely upon various strategies to avoid being eliminated over time, as most organisms tend to remove ...
Man Vs. Mosquito
Tags: Arbovirus, Gene editing, Mosquitoes, WolbachiaAman Vora, Brown Political Review, 2024.
It is a middle school math teacher’s favorite trivia question: What is the world’s deadliest animal? After images of a hunting tiger or towering gorilla flash through our imagination, we remember that it is the humble mosquito, whose terrible impact on human lives and ...
Using genomics to find solutions to malaria
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Malaria, Selfish genetic elements, Target malariaMorgan Morris, Nature Africa, 2024.
Joel Odero’s experiences of malaria is wide and deep. Growing up in a village in Kenya, he not only contracted the disease numerous times, but was all too familiar with the relentless daily regimen of spraying insecticides and checking malaria nets were not ripped. Decades ...
Russia’s Latest Target in Africa: U.S.-Funded Anti-Malaria Programs
Tags: Africa, Ethics, Risk and safety, Stakeholder engagement, Target malariaElian Peltier, The New York Times, 2024.
The scientists sifting through thousands of genetically modified mosquito larvae in a laboratory in Burkina Faso were trying to stop the spread of malaria, one of the biggest killers on the African continent. But in the pro-Russian propaganda telling of their work, the ...

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