GES Center Co-director Jennifer Kuzma Named AAAS Fellow
Jennifer Kuzma, Goodnight-North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Distinguished Professor in Social Sciences and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at NC State, elected for distinguished translational work in bridging the bench and society, advancing anticipatory governance of new technologies, and contributions to methods for oversight policy analysis....Continue reading "GES Center Co-director Jennifer Kuzma Named AAAS Fellow"
4 NC State Faculty Named AAAS Fellows
The American Association for the Advancement of Science elects 416 fellows, including four from NC State. Meet our newest members of the prestigious organization....
AP: Kuzma discusses need for case-by-case scrutiny of gene-edited foods
Per Kuzma, companies will have to be up-front about how these new foods were made and the evidence that they’re healthy. She wants regulators to decide case-by-case which changes are no big deal and which might need more scrutiny.“Most gene-edited plants and animals are probably going to be just fine to eat. But you’re only going to do yourself a disservice in the long run if you hide behind the terminology,” Kuzma said....Continue reading "AP: Kuzma discusses need for case-by-case scrutiny of gene-edited foods"
Editing nature: Local roots of global governance
Dr. Jennifer Kuzma, Goodnight-NC GSK Foundation Distinguished Professor and Co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, was one of the lead authors on an interdisciplinary team calling for global oversight of environmental gene editing in this Science Policy Forum, Editing Nature: Local roots of global governance....Continue reading "Editing nature: Local roots of global governance"
The Problems Driving Resistance to Bt Crops—and Some Proposed Solutions
By: DOMINIC REISIG, Entomology Today | Bt crops—those genetically engineered to produce an insecticidal toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis—are special due to their benefits: reducing foliar insecticide applications, which increase populations of beneficial insects and minimize environmental harm; reducing pest populations throughout the landscape; and preserving yield, to name a few. Therefore, preventing resistance to Bt crops is important and is usually formalized in a set of Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM) practices. Because bollworm is now resistant to two Bt toxin families in cotton, IRM practices may have to change to slow resistance to other Bt toxins....Continue reading "The Problems Driving Resistance to Bt Crops—and Some Proposed Solutions"
Report: Biotechnology, the American Chestnut, and Public Engagement
In April 2018, a team of NC State faculty and students convened a stakeholder workshop to explore opportunities for public engagement surrounding the development, regulatory review, and potential deployment of a genetically engineered American chestnut tree. As perhaps the first GMO designed to spread and persist in the wild, the tree has the potential to restore a functionally extinct species, but also raises important ethical, political, ecological, and cultural questions. This report describes the workshop and its purpose, details the substance of the discussions, and offers the research team’s perspective on lessons learned and ways forward....Continue reading "Report: Biotechnology, the American Chestnut, and Public Engagement"
Podcast: Regulate This!: How Genetic Engineering is Regulated, with Jennifer Kuzma
Podcast - Regulate This!: How Genetic Engineering is Regulated Dr. Jennifer Kuzma from NC State walks us through the complicated world of regulations that control how genetically engineering plants and animals make into our world and onto our plates. Really interesting conversation with broad implications for how society regulates complex technologies. Length: 1 hour, 28 minutes...
Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education
Problems related to food, energy and water are becoming increasingly complex. NC State is taking a new approach to prepare the scientists who will solve them....Continue reading "Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education"
‘Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education’
GES Center to launch NSF-funded AgBioFEWS graduate program, blending natural and social sciences to train next-gen problem-solvers in agricultural biotechnology....Continue reading "‘Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education’"
‘Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education’
NC State’s AgBioFEWS program will blend natural and social sciences to train next-generation problem-solvers in agricultural biotechnology....Continue reading "‘Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education’"
Gould quoted in C&EN: Building bioethics into the future of life sciences innovation
Scientists who refuse to engage with ethicists and the public will find themselves at a disadvantage. “Just because you are a scientist and have invented something doesn’t mean you have authority over it,” says Fred Gould, an entomologist and co-director of the Genetic Engineering & Society Center at North Carolina State University. He points to the National Academies report’s advocacy of participatory decision-making. Resistance from the science community based on ethicists and the public not fully understanding the science wears thin, he says. “You are a pretty poor scientist if you can’t explain what these things are about to an ethicist,” he says....
NBC News – Gould: Exposure levels determine toxicity of glyphosate
“With all things, it is the level of exposure that matters,” said Fred Gould, head of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University. “The poison is in the concentration.”...Continue reading "NBC News – Gould: Exposure levels determine toxicity of glyphosate"
Washington Post: Kuzma calls for mandatory regulatory process for gene-edited foods
“We need a mandatory regulatory process: not just for scientific reasons, but for consumer and public confidence,” Kuzma said. “I think the vast majority of gene-edited foods are going to be as safe as their conventionally bred counterparts. But I don’t buy into the argument that’s true all the time for every crop.”...
Call for art for 2019 “genetic futures” exhibit
open call for art | 2019 Genetic Futures exhibit | Now accepting proposals from artists, scientists, designers, and makers. The NCSU Libraries, NC State’s Genetic Engineering and Society Center (GES), and the Gregg Museum of Art & Design have issued a public call for art for the upcoming exhibition Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping our Genetic Futures....Continue reading "Call for art for 2019 “genetic futures” exhibit"
EU ruling on gene-edited plants and GMOs is more status quo than disruptive
Prior to the recent European Union ruling regarding gene-edited plants, opponents stoked fears that these new gene editing techniques were a loop-hole for big agricultural companies to release their untested, dangerous GMOs onto an unsuspecting...Continue reading "EU ruling on gene-edited plants and GMOs is more status quo than disruptive"