Gene Drives

A gene drive is a way to cheat the way evolution usually works, it's a piece of DNA that does not care about Mendelian rules. They happen in nature, but we can also engineer them. Gene drives are a very powerful technique, with a huge potential impact in terms of global health, but with great power comes great responsibility, and human society will have to regulate its use to ensure that the world can benefit from them.  Some references:  News Article from Nature New York Times Article Alphey LS, Crisanti A, Fil F et al. Standardizing the definition of gene drive. PNAS 2020;117:30864–7. Champer J, Buchman A, Akbari OS. Cheating evolution : engineering gene drives to manipulate the fate of wild populations. Nat Publ Gr 2016;17:146–59. Church GM. Concerning RNA-guided gene drives for the alteration of wild populations. Elife 2014;3:1–21. Courtier-Orgogozo V, Morizot B, Boëte C. Agricultural pest control with CRISPR- based gene drive : time for public debate. EMBO Rep 2017;18:878–80. Esvelt KM, Gemmell NJ. Conservation demands safe gene drive. PLoS Biol 2017;15:1–8.