Feral science or solution? Unleashing gene drives
When MIT geneticist Kevin Esvelt came up with a new technology to trigger the propagation of certain genes in the wild, he knew he'd come up with something powerful.
So much so, now he's calling for radical transparency in science, and the US military is funding research on the technology called “gene drives”.
But how are Australian scientists exploring its use for a really beastly crisis - feral animals like mice, rabbits and rats?
Leader, Sculpting Evolution Group
Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Laboratory of Genome Editing (formerly Developmental Genetics)
University of Adelaide
Group Leader, Environmental & Synthetic Genomics CSIRO
Video of presentation by Kevin Esvelt and Jennifer Doudna chaired by Natasha
Synthetic gene drives in Australia: implications of emerging technologies (Australian Academy of Sciences report)
Gene Editing can drive science to Openness (Kevin Esvelt)
Gene drive publications by Kevin Esvelt and colleagues
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Safe Genes Program
Mouse's Vineyard – Undiscovered podcast
The Gene Drive files (released by FOI requests)
- Natasha Mitchell
- Natasha Mitchell/ Maria Tickle