Co-sponsored by the National Invasive Species Council
Co-sponsored by the National Invasive Species Council.
Biotechnology is a transformative technology, giving rise to a range of new products and applications, including for invasive species management. New developments in gene editing, such as CRISPR-Cas, allow us to easily rewrite sections of an organism’s DNA in a way that promotes the spread of maladaptive traits through a population. These “gene drives” hold promise as a method for controlling or even eradicating major invasive species, such as herbicide-resistant weeds, disease-vectoring mosquitoes, rats on islands, and Asian carps. However, this powerful technology also raises important questions about ethical ramifications, risk management, and appropriate application and regulation.
This webinar will convene experts to introduce this emerging technology and its potential application to the control of invasive species and to discuss the difficult questions on how to navigate the deployment of this new tool.
Panelists:
- Fred Gould, North Carolina State University
- Karl Campbell and Greg Howald, Island Conservation
- Todd Kuiken, Woodrow Wilson Center
Moderator:
- Stas Burgiel, National Invasive Species Council Secretariat
Background Materials
- Akbari, O.S. et al. "Safeguarding gene drive experiments in the laboratory." Sciencexpress, 30 July 2015.
- Campbell, K.J. et al. "The next generation of rodent eradications: Innovative technologies and tools to improve species specificity and increase their feasibility on islands." Biological Conservation 185 (2015).
- Gould, F. "Broadening the Application of Evolutionarily Based Genetic Pest Management." Evolution 62:2 (2008).
- Woordow Wilson Center International Center for Scholars, "Exploring Synthetic Biology in the Great Lakes: Summary Report." April 15, 2013.
- Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, The DNA of the U.S. Regulatory System: Are We Getting It Right for Synthetic Biology? (2015)