Gene Drive Technology in the News
On EAC’s GMO disharmony and little-known GM mosquito research
Tags: Africa, Gene editing, MosquitoesGitura Mwaura, The New Times, 2024.
A meeting in Dar es Salaam in November 2022 sought to chart the legal way forward for the Target Malaria and Transmission Zero Project, as the research initiative is called.
Brazil’s record dengue surge: why a vaccine campaign is unlikely to stop it
Tags: Aedes, DengueMariana Lenharo, Nature, 2024.
A vaccine shortage and persistent sanitation problems threaten the success of the world’s first public vaccination campaign against dengue virus.
CRISPR could eradicate horrific parasite that’s killing cattle
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Kristin Houser, Freethink, 2024.
Uruguay is developing a CRISPR gene drive to eradicate the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly that kills cattle in a painful, grisly fashion. Releasing it into the wild would have risks, but if it works, it could help rid South America of this horrific agricultural pest. The ...
Protecting the peppers: Unlocking the potential of the sterile insect technique
Tags: Pest management, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Society of Chemical Industry, Phys.org, 2024.
For the first time, researchers in Canada have investigated the use of the sterile insect technique for controlling populations of the pepper weevil, Anthonomus eugenii, an economically significant crop pest in North America. The paper, published in Pest Management Science, ...
Gene Drive Systems To Control Aedes Aegypti Mosquitoes Make Headway
Tags: Aedes, CRISPR, Gene drive, MosquitoesJoshua Ang, Outreach Network for Gene Drive Research, 2024.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are known vectors of several diseases, including dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika, which impact millions of people worldwide each year. The effectiveness of existing insecticide-based methods to control this mosquito is threatened by growing ...
Revolutionizing Livestock Biosecurity: Using CRISPR Technology to Combat the New World Screwworm
Tags: CRISPR, Other mammals, Pest management, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Dr. Jessica Nelson, Medriva, 2024.
The New World screwworm, a persistent parasite responsible for significant damage to the global livestock industry, may soon meet its match. Researchers at Uruguay's National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) have developed a gene drive using CRISPR technology to combat ...
Uruguay wants to use gene drives to eradicate devastating screwworms
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Pest management, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Abdullahi Tsanni, MIT Technology Review, 2024.
On a warm, sunny day in Montevideo, Uruguay, the air is smogless and crisp. Inside a highly secured facility at the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) are a sophisticated gene gun, giant microscopes, and tens of thousands of gene-edited flies, their bright blue ...
Modified mosquitoes may save millions more lives in Latin America
Tags: Dengue, Genetically modified mosquitoes, South/Central AmericaMarina E. Franco, Axios, 2024.
A program that uses genetically engineered mosquitoes in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to reduce the prevalence of diseases that can be fatal may soon serve millions more people. Why it matters: Outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya, zika and yellow fever —diseases carried by ...
Taking the fight against disease to mosquitoes
Tags: Gene drive, Incompatible insect technique, Mosquitoes, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT), WolbachiaGregory Devine, Setopati, 2024.
In the medium term it's likely that suppression strategies involving self-limiting genetic modifications, Wolbachia infection and irradiation will be extended to a small number of our most important mosquito vectors of disease.
Biotech Mosquitoes Can Help to Regain Ground in Fight Against Malaria
Tags: Gene drive, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Malaria, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Florence Banoba, East News, 2024.
In response to the recent opinion articles that ran in the National print and online media in the last couple of days (1st and 5th February, 2024), regarding the use of GMO technology as a tool in the fight against malaria, I wish to address the writer’s broad-brush dismissal ...
Maui ‘ground zero’ for release of billions of biopesticide lab-altered mosquitoes
Tags: Incompatible insect technique, Malaria, North America, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Michael Nevradakis, LifeSite, 2024.
Up to 775,992,000 bacteria-infected mosquitoes could be released in Maui every week for the next 20 years, according to Hawaii Unites, an environmental advocacy group that last month lost its bid to require the state to conduct an environmental impact statement before allowing ...
Judge sides with Hawaii to block challenge to mosquito release plan
Tags: Birds, Incompatible insect technique, North America, Sterile insect technique (SIT), WolbachiaCandice Cheung, Courthouse News Service, 2024.
A planned program to save endemic Hawaiian birds from avian malaria by releasing thousands of biopesticide mosquitoes into Maui’s rainforest will go on, despite an attempt by an environmental nonprofit to block the project.First Circuit Court Judge John Tonaki ruled Tuesday ...
South American cities release mosquitoes to stem disease
Tags: Dengue, Mosquitoes, WolbachiaRoberto González, SciDev.Net, 2024.
When Waldeir Barbosa da Silva explained to his family that he was going to release hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes into the open, infected with a bacterium, they were surprised. In Niterói, southeast Brazil, where da Silva lives, diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as ...
Off the news: Gene-altered mosquitoes to the rescue
Tags: Gene drive, MosquitoesStar Advertiser, 2024.
A legal attempt to block deployment of genetically modified mosquitoes in a Maui forest was rejected in Circuit Court on Tuesday — cause for celebration among those hoping to save near-extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreepers. State and federal wildlife officials plan a staged ...
Opinion: A cautionary tale of experimenting with genetically modified mosquitoes in Uganda
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Genetically modified organisms, MosquitoesBarbara Ntambirweki, The Independent, 2024.
The Uganda Virus Research Institute is pressing forward with gene drive technology which provides a way to rapidly, permanently, and genetically modify wild animals or plants. Gene drive organisms, are a genetically modified organism (GMO) designed to spread a genetic ...
Revolutionary Gene Drive Could Provide Solution for Agricultural Pest Control
Tags: Fruit fly, Gene drive, Pest managementMaría Alejandra Trujillo, Breaking News Network, 2024.
The crux of the gene drive hinges on the process of sex determination in medflies. The drive effectively converts genetic females into fertile XX males, which, unlike their female counterparts, are harmless to crops. This innovative approach presents a possibility for a more ...
Otago GE Wasp Project Violates International Gene Drive Agreement
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive, OceaniaGE-Free NZ, Scoop, 2024.
Professor Dearden, Otago University, has received $11 million from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) to engineer wasps using gene drive technology. He is only consulting with Māori and regulators, ignoring and side-lining the views of other concerned New ...
Gene driver flies and quantum finance: News from Imperial
Tags: Fruit fly, Gene drive, Malaria, MosquitoesBryony Ravate, Hayley Dunning, Imperial College London, 2024.
Researchers have created the first gene drive for the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), a global agricultural pest affecting food production. The team was led by Dr Nikolai Windbichler and Dr Angela Meccariello at Imperial's Department of Life Sciences, and included ...
The $11million wasp to end (hopefully) all wasps
Tags: Gene editing, Oceania, Pest managementKieran Chisnall, Stuff, 2024.
A new project to eradicate wasps, which cost the country millions of dollars, has begun in Dunedin. The key to that $11million project would be a genetically altered wasp, capable of destroying wasps colonies from the inside. Professor Peter Dearden, Genomics Aotearoa ...
New gene-editing tools may help wipe out mosquito-borne diseases
Tags: Aedes, Gene editing, MosquitoesGreg Allen, NPR, 2024.
In the age-old war of human versus mosquitoes, the bugs have been winning. At least 700,000 people die every year from mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, West Nile and yellow fever. Global trade and climate change have helped disease-carrying species become ...
Gene editing would be helpful for pest control, report says
Tags: Gene editing, Pest managementAlex Binkley, National Newswatch, 2024.
Ottawa-Canada needs to boost its gene editing research capacity to better advance that branch of science’s pest control potential, says a report by the Council of Canadian Academies. There is insufficient intensive research and development activity in gene-edited pest control ...
Mosquito makeover: Tahiti’s groundbreaking solution to disease
Tags: Aedes, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Atutahi Potaka-Dewes, Pacific Media Network, 2024.
Mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting such diseases as dengue, malaria, zika, chikungunya, or filariosis, causing millions of deaths worldwide. French Polynesia is taking a groundbreaking initiative to address public health concerns and demonstrate a commitment to finding ...
CRISPR engineered viruses could render other viruses harmless
Tags: CRISPR, Gene driveMichael Le Page, New Scientist, 2023.
A virus genetically engineered to spread its DNA to other viruses via CRISPR gene editing has done exactly that in tests in mice. The hope is that these viruses could alter others, such as herpes, in a way that prevents them from causing symptoms. “It’s a new technology,” ...
Advancements in Gene Editing: Using CRISPR-Cas9 and Gene Drive Technology to Neutralize Viruses
Tags: CRISPR, Gene driveAnonymous, News Directory 3, 2023.
Researchers from the US Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center recently published research results in the international academic journal “Nature” demonstrating that herpes virus type 1 (HSV-1) was neutralized using “Gene Drive” technology . Gene drive refers to a ...
Communicating Creatively About Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, MalariaLorraine Gibson, Target Malaria, 2023.
In 2018, the Target Malaria team at Imperial College London published a landmark paper in Nature Biotechnology. The study demonstrated how gene drive mosquitoes successfully suppressed a population of wild-type malaria mosquitoes, marking a significant milestone for gene ...
Gene drives – maybe not a silver bullet, but a bullet nonetheless
Tags: Biological control, OceaniaJenny Leonard, New Zealand's Biological Heritage, 2023.
A gene drive is both a natural process and a genetic engineering technology where a gene is promoted or favoured during reproduction—instead of there being a “chance” of an offspring inheriting a gene, gene drives almost guarantee that the offspring (and subsequent ...
African scientist could wipe out malaria by editing mosquito DNA
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Gene editing, MalariaNimi 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, ...
To End Malaria In Africa, a Scientist From Africa Invented Gene Drive Technology.
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Genetic biocontrol, MalariaSalman 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 ...
Gene Drive: Engineered viruses take on their own kind in a new study
Tags: CRISPR, Gene driveRizwan 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 ...
Gene Drive Technology Unlocks Innovative Potential Solutions At The Intersection Of Climate Change And Public Health
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Ecology, Gene drive, Malaria, MosquitoesKrystal 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 ...
ISAAA Inc. | Genetic Tools For Conservation and Health: What’s The Role of Gene Drives?
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive, Video, WebinarKristine 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? ...
Invasive Feral Cats Could Be Wiped Out Using Genetic Modification
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene editing, Oceania, Other mammalsJess 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 ...
What are gene drives, and how can they help eradicate invasive species in Australia?
Tags: Gene drive, Invasive species, Oceania, Other mammalsDr. 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 ...
Ghana publishes its guidelines on Genome Editing
Tags: Africa, Gene editing, Risk and safetyAnonymous, 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 ...
New Techniques of Genetic Modification in Pest Control Spark Debate in Canada
Tags: Gene editing, Pest managementSandeep 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 ...
Scientific report urges debate on genetic modification to control insect pests
Tags: Gene editing, MosquitoesBob 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 ...
Mosquito modification programme aiming to eliminate malaria receives US$15m
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, MalariaHayley 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 ...
Inside Gates Foundation’s $15M effort to release gene-hacked mosquitoes that end malaria with ‘killer sex’
Tags: Genetically modified mosquitoes, MalariaJona 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 ...
What are gene drives?
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Mosquitoes, Target malariaAnonymous, 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 ...
Oxitec concludes GMO mosquito release phase
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Anonymous, 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
Male-killing virus leads to more female moths
Tags: Arbovirus, Moths, Selfish genetic elements, Sex distorterAnonymous, 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 ...
Success of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in fighting dengue may be underestimated
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, WolbachiaB. 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 ...
Research breakthrough in genetic biocontrol striving to transform pest management: Centre for Invasive Species Solutions
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Oceania, RodentsARR 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 ...
Bill Gates Talks Gene Drives, mRNA, and U.S.$40m in Science Funding
Tags: Africa, Anopheles, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, MalariaN. 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 ...
Genetic tools for conservation and health: What’s the Role of Gene Drive?
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive, Gene drive syntheticISAAA, Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Viet Nam, 2023.
The potential uses and impacts of gene drive technologies have garnered increasing interest at the international and national levels across the world. As part of the effort to contribute to an informed debate around gene drive technologies, the Outreach Network for Gene Drive ...
Dengue rates drop after release of modified mosquitoes in Colombia
Tags: Dengue, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaM. Lenharo, Nature, 2023.
Three cities in Colombia saw a dramatic fall in the incidence of dengue in the years following the introduction of mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, a bacterium that prevents the insect from transmitting viruses. In neighbourhoods where the Wolbachia mosquitoes were well ...
How mosquito-controlling bacteria might also enhance insect fertility
Tags: Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Fruit fly, WolbachiaPublic Library of Science, Phys Org, 2023.
A new study reveals biological mechanisms by which a specific strain of bacteria in the Wolbachia genus might enhance the fertility of the insects it infects—with potentially important implications for mosquito-control strategies. Shelbi Russell of the University of California ...
How Genetically Modified Mosquitos can end malaria in Africa – Dr. Santos
Tags: Africa, Genetically modified mosquitoes, MalariaS. Akioye, The Star, 2023.
With over 200 million cases every year and nearly 700,000 deaths, Malaria is currently one of Africa’s most dreaded sicknesses. While there have been efforts at finding different drugs for treatment, scientists are working on an innovative solution using genetically modified ...
How to fight insects that transmit diseases to people without harming those who cannot?
Tags: Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropods, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Nation World News Desk, Nation World, 2023.
One way to avoid this severe environmental impact is to specifically control the population of species that cause problems. This can be done chemically by releasing hormones into the environment that prevent passage to the adult stage, or pheromones that make them believe that a ...
This Burkinabe researcher wants his groundbreaking work to wipe out malaria, altogether
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, MalariaB. Orucho and M. Ndengar, The African Mirror, 2023.
ABDOULAYE Diabaté and his team are betting on gene technology to protect children like his own from malaria. Along with a clutch of brand-new vaccines, the technology could help the world end malaria for good.
