Gene Drive in the News
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
Are we winning the war on cane toads?
35089Tom Gurn, Particle, 2025-08-28 19:10:42.
In 1935, a species known as the giant neotropical toad (Rhinella marina) was introduced to Australia. Scientists hoped these amphibians would control native cane beetles, but cane toads quickly colonised the country and had no discernible impact on beetle populations. Many different methods are being tested to remove these warty beasts, including a toad containment zone and turning the toads into sausages. Now, almost a century later, scientists believe they have finally stumbled across a potential solution to one of the worst invasive species ever. Will clever gene-editing techniques finally rid this continent of the dreaded cane toad? Professor Emeritus Rick Shine led the team behind the new idea, based on CRISPR gene-editing techniques. “We seem to have found a chink in the toads’ armour,” says Rick. “If we could only stop their metamorphosing, we could have these eternal tadpoles,” he says. Searching for collaborators to test this cunning plan, Rick happened across molecular biologist Dr Maciej Masielko, who was immediately struck by the beauty of the idea. “We know enough about the biochemistry of metamorphosis to know what we would need to do,” says Maciej. “Like using CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a part of the cane toad’s DNA.”
Target Malaria activities suspended in Burkina Faso
35087Target Malaria, Target Malaria, 2025-08-28 18:52:04.
The National Biosafety Agency (ANB) and the National Environmental Assessment Agency (ANEVE) responded favourably in July 2025 to the authorisation request submitted by the Target Malaria Burkina Faso team based at the Institute of Health Sciences Research (IRSS) to conduct controlled releases of non gene drive genetically modified male bias mosquitoes. As part of this process, the Ethics Committee for Health Research (CERS) also issued its approval. In addition to the regulatory authorisations obtained from the ANB and ANEVE, the project received agreement from the communities of the field sites to proceed with the activities in their villages. On 11 August 2025, one small scale release of non gene drive genetically modified male bias mosquitoes took place successfully, in accord with terms and conditions of the ANB and ANEVE permits. On 18 August, the national authorities requested the Target Malaria team at IRSS to suspend all their activities. The IRSS team complied with the request. On 22 August, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation issued a communiqué informing “the Burkinabè public that it has terminated all the activities of the project Target Malaria on its territory”. The IRSS team, as part of the Target Malaria project, has operated since 2012 in compliance with the national laws of Burkina Faso. We have engaged actively with the national authorities and stakeholders of Burkina Faso and remain ready to cooperate.
Burkina Faso says no to Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes
35044Chinedu Okafor and BI Africa Contributor, Business Insider Africa, 2025-08-24 17:02:25.
In a statement published on Friday, officials urged Target Malaria, the initiative's principal NGO, to halt "all activities" in the nation. “All samples will be destroyed according to a strict protocol,” Samuel Pare, chief official at the higher education and research ministry, said in a Friday statement. The move is part of a larger crackdown on foreign-backed NGOs functioning under the present junta. The research, which began in Burkina Faso in 2019, released its first swarm of genetically modified male mosquitoes in the hamlet of Bana, a tiny settlement of around 1,000 people in the country's west. These mosquitoes were developed to limit the reproductive rate of malaria-carrying female mosquitoes, with the long-term objective of reducing the transmission of the illness that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year in Africa. Since its first release, the program has expanded its study to other locations, most recently unleashing new batches of mutated mosquitoes only days before the government's abrupt order to suspend operations. As reported by Bloomberg, campaigns in Africa accuse Target Malaria researchers of worsening the spread.
EPA assessing risk of releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes
35046Gary West, Capital Press, 2025-08-22 17:02:34.
The Environmental Protection Agency has convened a scientific panel to help assess whether genetically engineered mosquitoes could pose a risk to humans. In a paper released Aug. 21, the EPA said that as science advances it expects more proposals to control mosquitoes by releasing males with an implanted trait that prevents their offspring from surviving. Male mosquitoes don’t bite humans, only female mosquitoes bite. But if a female mosquito picks up the genetic flaw, such as a new protein, the protein could be passed onto humans, according to the EPA. The EPA expects the number of genetically engineered female mosquitoes to be low, and it hasn’t determined whether the proteins would be hazardous to humans. But it’s looking to identify the best way to confirm a female mosquito’s salvia doesn’t have novel proteins. The test will help the EPA to assess the risk of exposure to humans. “Female mosquitoes bite humans as a means of reproductive survival and, as a result, this interaction results in a plausible pathway of exposure to novel proteins,” the EPA stated.
AUDA-NEPAD Delegation visits Target Malaria at the Uganda Virus Research Institute
35083Richard Linga and Christopher Maiso, Target Malaria, 2025-08-20 16:20:01.
Target Malaria Uganda was honored to host delegates from African member states at the Uganda Virus Research Institute. The delegates were taking part in a benchmarking visit during the East African Regional Engagement on Biosafety and Environmental Regulation for Malaria Elimination, organized by the African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD). The delegates were welcomed by Prof. Pontiano Kaleebu, Director of the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), who commended their interest in Uganda’s advancing research on genetically modified mosquitoes, and thanked AUDA-NEPAD for supporting regional dialogue on innovative malaria control strategies. In his speech, Dr. Johnson Wiltshire, Programme Coordinator at the AUDA-NEPAD and head of the delegation, emphasized the urgent need for Africa to adopt innovative health solutions to effectively address persistent public health challenges. He noted that for African member states to fully benefit from emerging technologies, such as gene drive, regulatory requirements must be harmonized across the region. He further highlighted the importance of ensuring quality, access, and sustainability in the implementation of such innovations.
Tanzania’s bold step toward malaria elimination
35079Guardian Correspondent, IPP Media, 2025-08-20 12:44:23.
It is both mind-boggling and frustrating that an insect with an average lifespan of just two weeks can cause so much sickness and even deaths. Today, on World Mosquito Day, 20th August, the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) honours Sir Ronald Ross, whose landmark discovery in 1897 confirmed that mosquitoes transmit malaria. His finding not only transformed medical science but also highlighted the profound impact mosquitoes have on public health. For more than a century, his discovery—made while serving with the Indian Medical Services—has continued to remind the world that defeating malaria requires a deep understanding of parasites and efficient mosquito vectors in order to make a real impact in preventing the disease. Globally, vector control has been instrumental in saving millions of lives, mainly through Long-lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS). These measures prevented more than 78 million malaria cases between 2000 and 2015.
The buzz stops here
35057Bill Gates, Gates Notes, 2025-08-19 20:44:24.
I've been working on malaria for over two decades. I’ve talked with researchers in labs and parents who’ve lost children to a mosquito bite. I’ve seen promising new tools and surprising setbacks. But I’ve rarely been as excited about a new innovation as I am about this one. In a lab in Tanzania, researchers are studying something incredible: a mosquito that can’t give you malaria. It looks and behaves like any other mosquito. It flies, bites, and breeds. But what it doesn’t do is transmit one of the deadliest diseases on the planet—which means it could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year. This mosquito was developed in 2023 by a team of African scientists at the Ifakara Health Institute in partnership with Imperial College London. It’s the first transgenic mosquito ever created on African soil—meaning that scientists have made a small, targeted change to its DNA. It was both a major scientific milestone and a major moment of African leadership in the global health space. The project is called Transmission Zero, and its goal is as ambitious as its name: to eliminate malaria not by killing mosquitoes, but by making them unable to transmit it to humans.
How biotech helps Florida Keys prevent mosquito-borne diseases
35029Janine Stanwood, Local 10, 2025-08-17 19:49:34.
Biologists with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) are releasing lab-modified mosquitoes twice a week in the Middle Keys. It’s part of a pilot program to reduce the population and help stop people from getting bitten. “They’re male Aedes aegypti,” said Dr. Larry Hribar, FKMCD Director of Research. “They’re infected with a mosquito parasite that’s in the genus Wolbachia.” There are dozens of species of blood suckers in South Florida, including the nuisance salt marsh mosquito found in mangroves and in the Everglades. But it’s the Aedes aegypti that carries diseases like Zika and dengue. “That’s the one that vector the diseases we worry about,” said FKMCD spokesperson Chad Huff. The males, shipped from a company called MosquitoMate, have been infected with the Wolbachia bacteria before mating with females after being released. “They’ll find a local female, they’ll mate, but the eggs she produces are not going to be viable,” Hribar said. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the lab-infected mosquitoes can’t make people or animals sick.
CRISPR Mosquitoes That Can’t Bite
35031Science Techniz, 2025-08-09 19:49:44.
Scientists have used CRISPR gene editing to alter female mosquitoes so that their proboscis — the needle-like mouthpart used to pierce skin — develops like a male’s. The consequence is simple and profound: modified females can no longer pierce skin and therefore cannot take a blood meal or transmit human diseases like malaria and dengue. Researchers identified a gene involved in the developmental pathway that produces the female proboscis morphology. Using CRISPR-based edits, they altered that gene’s function so that genetically female mosquitoes develop a male-like mouthpart. Because males naturally do not bite (they feed on nectar), the modification removes the biting behavior without fundamentally disrupting other survival traits in lab tests. It’s important to stress that this is a high-level description intended to explain the concept, not a protocol or “how-to.” The work is complex, tightly regulated, and performed under strict laboratory and ethical oversight.
Millions of genetically modified insects have been released in Brazil, but why didn’t anyone tell you about this before?
35003Noel Budeguer, Click Petroleo e Gas, 2025-08-04 08:29:56.
Few people realize, but Brazil is one of the most advanced countries in the world when it comes to biological pest control. Instead of relying solely on poisons and traps, Brazilian researchers are investing in technological solutions that, at first glance, seem like the stuff of science fiction: releasing modified mosquitoes and flies into the environment to prevent disease outbreaks and agricultural losses. The initiative may sound controversial, but it has already yielded impressive results—and, in some cases, may have prevented entire epidemics without anyone noticing. The logic behind these techniques is simple yet powerful. By releasing sterile or genetically modified males into the environment, they compete with natural males for females. When they win this contest and mate, the offspring born don't survive—or even hatch at all. The result is a drastic decline in the target pest's population. Two main approaches are used: the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), which uses radiation to sterilize males, and genetic modification, which prevents reproduction through DNA alterations. Both methods eliminate the use of pesticides and have gained traction as sustainable and highly effective alternatives.
Thousands of mosquitoes are being dropped by drone over islands in Hawaii. Here’s why
34999Nell Lewis, CNN, 2025-07-31 15:47:51.
In June, dozens of biodegradable pods fell from the sky over the forests of Hawaii. Each one, delivered by drone, contained about 1,000 mosquitoes. These weren’t just any mosquitoes — they were non-biting, lab-reared male mosquitoes carrying a common bacterium that results in eggs that don’t hatch when the males mate with wild females. The hope is that they will help to control the archipelago’s invasive mosquito population, which is decimating native bird populations, such as rare Hawaiian honeycreepers. The birds, which are key pollinators and seed dispersers and also play a central role in Hawaiian culture, are in dire straits. There were once more than 50 known species of honeycreepers in Hawaii, but today there are only 17 left, most of which are endangered. Last year, the ‘akikiki, a small gray bird, went functionally extinct in the wild, and less than 100 of the yellow-green ʻakekeʻe are estimated to remain. Development and deforestation have had an impact, but according to Dr. Chris Farmer, Hawaii program director for the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the “existential threat” is avian malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes.
Vector Control District Plans Experimental Mosquito Control Program
34982Contributing Editor, MyNewsLA.com, 2025-07-24 09:51:29.
Batches of irradiated male mosquitoes are slated for release Wednesday in Lake Elsinore with the goal of pairing the modified insects with as many females as possible to kill off the overall mosquito population, under an experimental program that apparently hasn’t generated concerns among public officials. The “Sterile Insect Technique Pilot Program” is being managed by the Northwest Mosquito & Vector Control District, which serves segments of western Riverside County. The district is believed to be the first countywide to inaugurate an SIT mosquito control program. Questions regarding when it was authorized, the estimated number of modified mosquitoes that will be released and any potential public health risks were not answered by the agency as of Tuesday afternoon. Lake Elsinore officials also did not respond to requests for comment. The West Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District, which encompasses Ontario, Montclair and neighboring municipalities in San Bernardino County, was the first district in California to receive authorization from state regulators to initiate mosquito SIT releases last year, under a pilot program similar to that of the Northwest Mosquito & Vector Control District. It’s still unknown whether West Valley’s experimental program has netted any benefits. “Sterile male mosquitoes are released to mate with local females, and the resulting eggs are unable to hatch,” NMVCD said in a statement regarding the Lake Elsinore program. “The release of adult male mosquitoes will not increase local bite pressure, as only female mosquitoes bite.”
Lethal malaria parasite’s weaknesses revealed
34975Nature, 553. 2025-07-24 09:33:54.
A sweeping genomic analysis of the most deadly malaria parasite has revealed targets for more resilient drugs against the pathogen. The parasite Plasmodium falciparum has evolved resistance to every licensed drug. To aid the search for compounds that present higher barriers to resistance, a team led by Elizabeth Winzeler at the University of California, San Diego, exposed 262 strains of P. falciparum to a range of antimalarial agents. By analysing the genomes of strains that evolved resistance to the chemicals, the researchers identified the mutations that were most- and least-often linked to the parasite’s ability to survive an onslaught of antimalarial drugs. The team reasoned that genes with infrequent mutations would make good drug targets, because they seem less likely to adapt to new antiparasitic agents. Some of those genes code for enzymes, which can be targeted by drugs that are easier to administer than other types of therapy.
A genetic tweak could prevent mosquitoes from transmitting malaria
34987Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 2025-07-23 10:40:28.
Each year, 263 million people get malaria. But from the parasite's perspective, infecting humans is harder than you might think, and requires completing an epic journey within the tiny body of a mosquito. First, the mosquito must suck the blood of an individual infected with malaria — bringing the Plasmodium parasite into the insect's gut. Then the parasite must travel to the critter's salivary glands, where it's poised to be injected into the mosquito's next victim via a bite. Now a team of researchers have found a way to interrupt this crucial journey. By using gene editing to make a tiny tweak to the mosquito's genome — one that changes just a single amino acid — parasites were largely prevented from reaching their final destination. The change effectively rendered laboratory mosquitoes highly resistant to spreading malaria, researchers report Wednesday in Nature. "The idea that you could change just one amino acid and not have the parasite transmitted is a pretty big deal," says Fred Gould, an entomologist at North Carolina State University who wasn't involved in the study. "It's really exciting." That tiny tweak could be spread through a whole mosquito population using a gene drive, a genetic technology that breaks the normal 50-50 rules of inheritance. Gene drives are sequences of DNA that can be inserted into the genome of an individual and cause a specific mutation or gene to be passed on to virtually all offspring, instead of just 50%.
Genetic tweak in mosquitoes blocks malaria transmission without affecting insect health
34978University of California - San Diego, Phys.org, 2025-07-23 09:38:04.
Mosquitoes kill more people each year than any other animal. In 2023, the blood-sucking insects infected a reported 263 million people with malaria, leading to nearly 600,000 deaths, 80% of which were children. Recent efforts to block the transmission of malaria have been stalled because mosquitoes have adapted resistance to insecticides and the parasites within mosquitoes that cause malaria have become resistant to drugs. These setbacks have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impeded ongoing anti-malarial efforts. Now, researchers at the University of California San Diego, Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley and the University of São Paulo have developed a new method that genetically blocks mosquitoes from transmitting malaria. Their work appears in Nature. Biologists Zhiqian Li and Ethan Bier from UC San Diego, along with Yuemei Dong and George Dimopoulos from Johns Hopkins University, created a CRISPR-based gene-editing system that changes a single molecule within mosquitoes, a minuscule but effective change that stops the malaria-parasite transmission process. Genetically altered mosquitoes are still able to bite those with malaria and acquire parasites from their blood, but the parasites can no longer be spread to other people. The new system is designed to genetically spread the malaria resistance trait until entire populations of the insects no longer transfer the disease-causing parasites. "Replacing a single amino acid in mosquitoes with another naturally occurring variant that prevents them from being infected with malarial parasites—and spreading that beneficial trait throughout a mosquito population—is a game-changer," said Bier, a professor in the UC San Diego Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (School of Biological Sciences). "It's hard to believe that this one tiny change has such a dramatic effect."
Genetic discovery advances insect pest control worldwide
34968IAEA, Phys.org, 2025-07-09 10:29:16.
An international research team led by Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) and the Joint FAO/IAEA Center of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has identified the gene responsible for a temperature-sensitive lethality (tsl) phenotype in the Mediterranean fruit fly, solving a long-standing mystery. Their research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The sterile insect technique (SIT) involves the mass-rearing and sterilization using radiation of a target pest. Sterile males are then released over defined areas, where they mate with wild females, producing no offspring, which reduces the pest population. The SIT dates back to 1916, when scientists first used X-rays to induce sterility in insects. It was successfully implemented in the 1950s against the New World screwworm in the United States of America. Since then, SIT has become a globally recognized and target-specific method to suppress invasive and established insect populations of agriculture, veterinary and medical importance. The effectiveness and efficiency of SIT depends on reliably separating the sexes so that only sterile males are released in the field. A breakthrough came in the late 1980s with the discovery of the tsl mutation at the Joint FAO/IAEA Center's Insect Pest Control Laboratory. This was followed by the development of tsl-based genetic sexing in Ceratitis capitata, in which female offspring die at the embryonic stage following short-term heat treatment. This made it possible to produce sterile male flies at an industrial scale. Yet the gene underlying this effect remained unidentified for more than three decades, limiting the broader application of this approach to other insect species.
The goal of eliminating malaria by 2030 is in jeopardy
34937African Media Agency, African Newspage, 2025-06-24 08:50:49.
Africa could see 554,000 additional malaria deaths due to climate change, unless urgent action is taken. The goal of eliminating malaria by 2030 is in jeopardy, as climate change, population growth, and funding shortfalls converge to reverse hard-won gains over the past decade. “Shifting temperature and rainfall patterns are expanding and altering malaria risk zones, which will continue to disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, especially children under five,” says Dr. Patric Epopa, researcher at the Health Sciences Research Institute (IRSS) and Field Entomology Coordinator at Target Malaria Burkina Faso. According to a climate impact model developed by Boston Consulting Group and the Malaria Atlas Project to predict changes in extreme weather events and to estimate their impact on malaria deaths to the year 2049, the increase in extreme weather events is reshaping malaria risk. The findings indicate: Between 2030 and 2049, climate change is expected to cause 554,000 more malaria deaths than if today’s climate remained unchanged. This is despite some regions seeing reduced transmission rates. Extreme weather events will drive 92% of these additional deaths. Stepping up malaria control with current tools could reduce the additional deaths, but climate change may weaken their impact by up to 17%, making progress fragile. By 2050, climate change will make malaria eradication harder for 75% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population,equating to 1.3 billion people. “Extreme weather is one of the biggest drivers of malaria spikes,” says the researcher. “Displaced communities are often left unprotected without mosquito nets, indoor spraying, or access to early diagnosis and treatment.”
Create legal path for gene drive mosquitoes, experts say
34919Samwel Doe Ouma, The Star, 2025-06-23 10:42:22.
As Africa continues to shoulder the global burden of malaria, scientists and policy experts say gene drive technology could offer a groundbreaking solution. But without clear regulatory frameworks and strong community engagement, its deployment could be delayed, risking further loss of life and economic productivity. During the Evidence for Development (EVI4DEV) Conference in Nairobi, hosted by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA), and the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), experts called for urgent policy harmonisation and public dialogue to enable the safe rollout of gene drive technology. “Malaria is an African problem, we need to find our own tools to address malaria problems,” said Dr Barbara Glover from AUDA-NEPAD, South Africa. “Africa should be able to innovate new technologies and solutions for African problems.” Gene drive technology targets malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by altering their genetic makeup, specifically the Anopheles gambiae species, to pass on traits such as infertility, reducing mosquito populations over time. The approach, being developed under the Target Malaria consortium, has shown promise in laboratory settings but has not yet been tested in the field. “Gene drives systems promote the biased inheritance of specific genes from one generation to the next,” explained Dr Wiltshire Johnson of AUDA-NEPAD. “Gene drive is deployed when a causal pathway initiated by release of a gene drive system in target mosquito vector species, leading to its transmission to subsequent generations, its increase in frequency and spread in target mosquito populations, its simultaneous propagation of a linked genetic trait aimed at reducing vectorial capacity of plasmodium and reduced vectorial capacity for parasites in target mosquito populations resulting in decreased malaria incidence and prevalence.” Johnson emphasised the urgency of adopting innovative tools amid increasing resistance to existing malaria interventions such as insecticides and drug treatments. “Malaria still kills 600,000 people, causes reduction of 25 percent GDP in Africa countries,” he said. “Even with existing traditional Malaria control tools starting to fail or are showing signs of failure... the deployment and use of gene drive technology will help in solving the malaria problem.”
Rollins presses ahead with latest initiative on New World screwworm
34924HPJ staff, High Plains Journal, 2025-06-19 14:41:39.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on June 18 announced an $8.5 million sterile New World screwworm fly dispersal facility in south Texas and a five-pronged plan to enhance the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ability to detect, control and eliminate the pest. In a media release, the USDA noted actions are necessary to finish the fight against NWS and protect the United States. NWS is a devastating pest that causes serious and often deadly damage to livestock, wildlife, pets, and in rare cases, humans. While NWS has been eradicated from the U.S. for decades, recent detections in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border, led to the immediate suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border on May 11. “The United States has defeated NWS before and we will do it again,” Rollins said. “We do not take lightly the threat NWS poses to our livestock industry, our economy, and our food supply chain. The United States government will use all resources at its disposal to push back NWS, and today’s announcement of a domestic strategy to bolster our border defenses is just the beginning. We have the proven tools, strong domestic and international partnerships, and the grit needed to win this battle.”
Strengthening gene drive research in Africa through engagement, regulation, and regional cooperation
34909Dickson W. Lwetoijera, Outreach Network for Gene Drive Research, 2025-06-15 18:59:18.
On the sidelines of this year’s World Health Assembly, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel exploring the role of genomics in public health. The event, supported by the Science Summit, brought together researchers, regulators, and policymakers to examine how genomic tools can support stronger, more equitable health systems. I spoke alongside Prof. Georges Christophides of Imperial College London and Dr. Brian B. Tarimo of the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI). Together, we reflected on how gene drive technologies could strengthen the fight against malaria in Tanzania and the broader East African region, exploring progress made in gene drive research, and reflecting on what it will take to move forward. Prof. Christophides opened with a stark reminder of challenges faced in the fight against malaria: in 2023, Tanzania recorded over 8,000,000 cases and just under 25,000 malaria deaths, with 95% of the population at risk. With challenges such as insecticide resistance weakening the impact of current tools like treated nets and indoor residual spraying, the need for new interventions is necessary and unavoidable. Gene drive technologies offer one such possibility, but only if the right systems are in place to support their development and implementation. Prof. Christophides stressed the importance of strengthening frameworks that enable progress while maintaining safety and transparency. He also highlighted the need for long-term institutional partnerships, where African agencies are not just consulted, but lead the way. Dr. Tarimo focused on the importance of community engagement, a key aspect of the research. At Transmission Zero, we are working with district-level teams in areas that may host future field trials of gene drive technologies to ensure that communities are informed, involved, and heard. Engaging with local communities means recognizing that their values and concerns must shape the direction of our work from the outset. Without that trust, no technology, no matter how promising, can succeed.
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