Media
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
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African scientist could wipe out malaria by editing mosquito DNANimi Princewill, CNN, 2023.
Malaria is a leading cause of death in Burkina Faso, where nearly all of the West African nation’s 22 million inhabitants, especially children, are at risk of the disease, according to the World Health Organization. Malaria killed nearly 19,000 people in Burkina Faso in 2021, ... |
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To End Malaria In Africa, a Scientist From Africa Invented Gene Drive Technology.Salman Ahmad, CTN News, 2023.
Abdoulaye Diabate, a scientist from Africa, is currently working on a groundbreaking technology called ‘gene drive’ that has the potential to eradicate malaria or the mosquitoes that cause it from the continent. Diabate, who received the prestigious 2023 Falling Walls Prize ... |
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Gene Drive: Engineered viruses take on their own kind in a new studyRizwan Choudhury, Interesting Engineering, 2023.
Scientists are exploring a radical idea to combat viral infections: use viruses against themselves. They are testing whether introducing modified viruses into people with the same natural viruses can spread a gene that destroys the infection. This has yet to be done successfully ... |
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Gene Drive Technology Unlocks Innovative Potential Solutions At The Intersection Of Climate Change And Public HealthKrystal Birungi, African Media Agency, 2023.
The inaugural ‘Day of Health’ at the UN Climate Conference (COP-28) highlighted the dramatic impact of climate change on health, diseases and in particular on malaria. Heads of State and climate experts converged in Dubai to emphasise the indisputable link between climate ... |
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Can Gene Drive Address Health and Conservation Challenges in the Philippines?Kristine Grace N. Tome, Science Speaks, 2023.
ISAAA Inc., in partnership with the Outreach Network for Gene Drive Research and the Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC), gathered approximately 834 online participants during the webinar Genetic Tools for Conservation and Health: What's the Role of Gene Drives? ... |
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Invasive Feral Cats Could Be Wiped Out Using Genetic ModificationJess Thomson, Newsweek, 2023.
Hordes of feral cats terrorizing native species in Australia could be combatted using a special type of genetic engineering, scientists have suggested. The cats, which came to Australia via European colonizers, regularly kill native mammals, birds, and reptiles, including ... |
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What are gene drives, and how can they help eradicate invasive species in Australia?Dr. Ellen Cottingham, ABC News (Australia Broadcasting Corporation), 2023.
The impact of feral cats and other invasive species is felt across Australia. Not only do they threaten native species, but they can also spread diseases to humans and livestock. Invasive species are estimated to cost Australia an eye-watering $25 billion annually, while the ... |
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Ghana publishes its guidelines on Genome EditingAnonymous, BusinessGhana, 2023.
Ghana's National Biosafety Authority (NBA) has published its guidelines on Genome Editing and Gene Stacks with regards Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) joining Nigeria, Kenya, and Malawi, as the fourth country in Africa with the guidelines. Genome editing is an emerging and ... |
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New Techniques of Genetic Modification in Pest Control Spark Debate in CanadaSandeep Kunchikor, Express Healthcare Management, 2023.
Scientists in Canada are urging serious discussions on the use of genetic modification as a new technique in pest control. In a recent report by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, a branch of Health Canada that regulates pesticide use, experts argue that genetic modification ... |
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Scientific report urges debate on genetic modification to control insect pestsBob Weber, CTV News, 2023.
Scientists are learning to turn the genetics of insect pests against themselves, altering the genome of familiar foes in ways that give farmers and doctors new ways to fight them. The burgeoning field offers fresh hope against old scourges such as malaria. And it could provide ... |
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Mosquito modification programme aiming to eliminate malaria receives US$15mHayley Dunning, Imperial College London, 2023.
Half of the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria, a disease caused by parasites that are transmitted from one person to another through bites from Anopheles mosquitoes. In 2021 alone, there were over 247 million cases and 619,000 deaths from malaria, mostly ... |
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Inside Gates Foundation’s $15M effort to release gene-hacked mosquitoes that end malaria with ‘killer sex’Jona Jaupi, The U.S. Sun, 2023.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by parasites and poses a significant threat to nearly half of the world's population. In 2021, an estimated 247 million people contracted malaria, with a staggering 619,000 deaths, per Imperial College. Most of those deaths affected ... |
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What are gene drives?Anonymous, MalariaGEN, 2023.
Among the new generation of technological tools being developed to combat malaria, there is a lot of buzz around gene drives. This is a method for genetically modifying malaria-spreading mosquitoes and ultimately reducing or replacing their populations. But how exactly do gene ... |
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Oxitec concludes GMO mosquito release phaseAnonymous, keysnews.com, 2023.
Oxitec and the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District announced last week that the release phase during the third season of the FKMCD-Oxitec Mosquito Project has concluded for the 2023 season. Mosquito population monitoring will continue for the next several weeks.9 |
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The fight against malariaAnonymous, The Week, 2023.
Some scientists are betting on genetically modified mosquitoes. On the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, 200 miles off Africa’s west coast, University of California researchers are aiming to replace local mosquitoes with lab-tweaked insects that can’t transmit the ... |
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Male-killing virus leads to more female mothsAnonymous, Nature, 2023.
Keisuke Nagamine at Minami Kyushu University in Miyazaki, Japan, and his colleagues have identified another virus that kills male embryos of the tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura. Female moths infected with the virus produced an equal number of male and female embryos, but ... |
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Success of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in fighting dengue may be underestimatedB. Wampler, Notre Dame News, 2023.
Now, researchers at the University of Notre Dame have conducted an analysis of the World Mosquito Program’s randomized control trial of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in Indonesia, looking at how excluding transmission dynamics impacted the original interpretation of the ... |
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The fight against malariaThe Week US, The Week, 2023.
Some scientists are betting on genetically modified mosquitoes. On the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, 200 miles off Africa’s west coast, University of California researchers are aiming to replace local mosquitoes with lab-tweaked insects that can’t transmit the ... |
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Research breakthrough in genetic biocontrol striving to transform pest management: Centre for Invasive Species SolutionsARR News, Australian Rural and Regional News, 2023.
A potential new non-lethal and ethical approach to control invasive mammal pests was showcased at a briefing held at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide on Tuesday 31 October. Hosted by the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and the ... |
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Bill Gates Talks Gene Drives, mRNA, and U.S.$40m in Science FundingN. Mlambo, allAfrica, 2023.
In 2003, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Grand Challenges initiative in order to find scientific solutions to these health challenges. Initially, the initiative focused on 14 scientific challenges including focusing on creating effective single-dose vaccines ... |
