Publications

Reflection on the Challenges, Accomplishments, and New Frontiers of Gene Drives

May 24, 2023

Background Ongoing pest and disease outbreaks pose a serious threat to human, crop, and animal lives, emphasizing the need for constant genetic discoveries that could serve as mitigation strategies. Gene drives are genetic engineering approaches discovered decades ago that may allow quick, super-Mendelian dissemination of genetic modifications in wild populations, offering hopes for medicine, agriculture, […]

Strategies to improve homology-based repair outcomes following CRISPR-based gene editing in mosquitoes: lessons in how to keep any repair disruptions local

May 23, 2023

Background Programmable gene editing systems such as CRISPR-Cas have made mosquito genome engineering more practical and accessible, catalyzing the development of cutting-edge genetic methods of disease vector control. This progress, however, has been limited by the low efficiency of homology-directed repair (HDR)-based sequence integration at DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and a lack of understanding about […]

Gene drive in species complexes: defining target organisms

May 23, 2023

Background Engineered gene drives share many environmental risk assessment considerations with other transgenes in genetically modified organisms, but they can differ significantly in their potential to spread, increase in frequency, and persist in target populations. Recently, introduction of mosquitoes with an engineered gene drive completely suppressed caged wild type laboratory populations of the malaria vector Anopheles […]

Population replacement gene drive characteristics for malaria elimination in a range of seasonal transmission settings: a modelling study

May 23, 2023

Background Gene drives are a genetic engineering method where a suite of genes is inherited at higher than Mendelian rates and has been proposed as a promising new vector control strategy to reinvigorate the fight against malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Leung, S., Windbichler, N., Wenger, E. A., Bever, C. A., & Selvaraj, P. (2022). Population […]

Operationalizing stakeholder engagement for gene drive research in malaria elimination in Africa—translating guidance into practice

May 23, 2023

Background Gene drive mosquitoes are increasingly considered a potential transformational tool for vector control of malaria mosquitoes. As part of efforts to promote responsible research in this field, a number of guidance documents have been published by the World Health Organization, National Academies and expert groups. While virtually all recent guidance documents on gene drive […]