Delaney+Daily+Planet+CRISPR

I went to a Seminar at the Daily Planet Cafe about the usage of gene editing in helping biodiversity. Presenters John Godwin and Jason Belmore talked about island biodiversity, and showed how human influence had created conditions that have destroyed entire populations. Islands contain 40% of all endangered species, and the people of GBIRD (Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Rodents) are working on finding a better way to maintain the present ecosystem. Previously, people have used aerial toxicants, which are relatively effective on small islands, but are expensive to use on large islands and bad for any people or already present species that live on the island. These aerial toxicants have been used to kill invasive rodents, but the people at GBIRD have come up with a better option. Instead of killing the animals, they have a plan to use a gene drive with the cas9 enzyme to force any offspring of a certain invasive species to inherit a singular trait with 100% accuracy. Through this technique, they have been able to change the sex of a mouse from female to male, though the mouse did end up being sterile. Theoretically though, all of that mouses offspring would have been male too. Asides from this development, Godwin and Belmore believe they could use gene therapy to deextinct certain animals, like in Jurassic Park. They are looking at the potential consequences though, so that's a better start then the people in the movies had. After this lecture, Godwin and Belmore opened up the room for audience questions, where people asked more specific questions about the future of the gene drive and the usage of CRISPR/Cas9 as a whole.