Student spotlight: Sophia Webster wins 1st place at Graduate Student Research Symposium
Kudos to Sophia Webster, a GES PhD candidate in Entomology and Plant Pathology, for winning first place at Graduate Student Research Symposium! Sophia is part of the 2012 IGERT cohort whose focus is mosquitoes and human health. The first IGERT course took place in Lima and Iquitos, Peru where the cohort attended tropical medicine symposiums, visited health clinics and several farms to speak with farmers. The cohort also shadowed NAMRU workers door to door in in Iquitos as the workers completed their household mosquito checks and surveys. Additionally, the cohort conducted household experiments on the density dependent effects of mosquito larvae in household containers....
WIRED: Process of Elimination
A deep dive into the inception of the Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Rodents (GBIRd) program, this article in WIRED details how Karl Campbell of Island Conservation came across GES Co-Director Fred Gould's research suggesting that the genetic engineering techniques being used to manage insect populations could also be applied to other species, like rodents. And then, what happened when CRISPR came along....
Journal of Responsible Innovation publishes ‘Roadmap to Gene Drives’ special issue
The Genetic Engineering and Society Center at NC State hosted a workshop in February of 2016, supported in part by the National Science Foundation, entitled ‘A Roadmap to Gene Drives: A Deliberative Workshop to Develop...
Gene Drives and Responsible Innovation
It is not often that a new technology is at once hailed as a potential solution to pandemic disease, wildlife conservation and hunger, while also being feared as a potential military and environmental “bioweapon.” Gene drives,...
Scientist to the Senators: Ph.D. Student Johanna Elsensohn
Written by Chelsea Kellner This article originally appeared on CALS News Ph.D. student Johanna Elsensohn understands the importance of intersecting science with policy: During the international Zika virus crisis, she worked with policymakers on one...Continue reading "Scientist to the Senators: Ph.D. Student Johanna Elsensohn"
Student Spotlight: Mike Jones and the Economics of Cutting-Edge Ag Technology
The academic journey of Ph.D. student Mike Jones spans Peruvian potato fields and the irrigated deserts of Syria to NC State’s campus, where he investigates the impacts and public perception of cutting-edge agricultural technology....Continue reading "Student Spotlight: Mike Jones and the Economics of Cutting-Edge Ag Technology"
IGERT Student Jennifer Baltzegar wins Entomology poster contest
Jennifer Baltzegar, a PhD Candidate in the Genetics Program, won first place in a research poster competition last week at the Entomological Society of America’s 2017 Annual Meeting. Jen is an NSF IGERT Fellow in Genetic...Continue reading "IGERT Student Jennifer Baltzegar wins Entomology poster contest"
Scientific American: Could Genetic Engineering Save the Galápagos?
Campbell first became intrigued by the possibilities of gene drive in 2011, when he sat in on a conference call between biologists at NC State University and officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to discuss a possible genetic approach to control a runaway mouse problem on Southeast Farallon Island, about 20 miles west of the California coast, near San Francisco. John Godwin, a North Carolina State neurobiologist who studies animal behavior, had learned of the Farallon issue while skimming the Internet in 2011. He happened to be at a university with an established infrastructure dedicated to experimenting with—and considering the ethical implications of—genetic manipulation....Continue reading "Scientific American: Could Genetic Engineering Save the Galápagos?"
IGERT Student Jessica Barnes wins poster contest at 2017 American Chestnut Foundation meeting
Read about the ACF Annual Meeting and see more photos here. Full poster (click to enlarge)...
NC State Receives DARPA Funding to Develop, Test Gene Drive System
For Immediate Release August 3, 2017 John Godwin | 919.513.2936 North Carolina State University researchers have received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and test a system that would reduce populations of...Continue reading "NC State Receives DARPA Funding to Develop, Test Gene Drive System"
IGERT in Peru – The Role of Rhetoric in Transgenetics
By Molly Hartzog Week 1 – Lima, Peru Hola a todos! I have been in Peru since July 14 with NC State’s Genetic Engineering and Society program, to study pest issues in developing nations. Today we arrived in...Continue reading "IGERT in Peru – The Role of Rhetoric in Transgenetics"