Jake Warner – Genome editing in corals | GES Colloquium [Zoom]
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SPRING SEMINAR SERIES
Genome editing in corals
Zoom ONLY | An overview of the state of genome editing technology in corals and the ethical issues they elicit.
Coral reefs worldwide are experiencing unprecedented losses. Rising sea surface temperatures, declining seawater pH, pollutants, and disease are among the many factors that have led to coral population decline. Given the varied nature of these threats, it is unlikely that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to conservation and restoration will be sufficient. Precision genomics, including genome modification and transgenics, affords new opportunities to develop tailored solutions to these problems. Genomic modification in corals has thus far been hindered by technical difficulties including logistical challenges associated with coral reproduction and the low success rate of traditional transgenic approaches more broadly. Our group has overcome both limitations by successfully spawning corals in captivity year over year, and by developing a novel, high- throughput, gene knock-in strategy which we have demonstrated in several cnidarians including corals. There are potentially transformative applications of this technology: coral transgenic lines could, eventually, be used to drive expression of beneficial gene products that confer tolerance to heat, disease, or other stressors. At the same time, with our bioethics collaborators we are examining the potential ethical, environmental, and policy implications of deploying this technology in corals to generate a framework to guide future stakeholders in its implementation.
Jake Warner, PhD
Associate Professor at UNC Wilmington | Profile
Dr. Warner’s lab seeks to understand early development of Stony corals, a long overlooked field of developmental biology. He uses a combination of single cell omics, imaging, and perturbations to derive the gene regulatory networks of early cell type specification in developing corals. His group recently published the first transgenic ‘knock-in’ coral (Warner et al 2025). His group has garnered significant recognition and is funded by the NSF, NIH and international organizations
The Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Colloquium is a seminar series that brings in speakers to present and stimulate discussion on a variety of topics related to existing and proposed biotechnologies and their place within broader societal changes.
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