We’ve been hearing a lot about this technology over recent years – yet the concept has been about for half a century.
The concept of a synthetic gene drive was devised almost 50 years ago by Christopher Curtis who proposed rearranging genetic material to “drive” anti-pathogenic genes into wild species.
The idea was taken further by UK evolutionary geneticist Professor Austin Burtin, who discussed how a synthetic gene drive could be used to prevent insects spreading diseases such as malaria.
