Kevin Esvelt | Safeguarding exponential biology | Frontiers Forum Live 2023

Описание: Thanks to advances ranging from DNA sequencing to CRISPR, to DNA synthesis, scientists have increasingly learned to read, edit and reprogram living things, with applications for health, agriculture - and perhaps soon in ecology. In his talk at Frontiers Forum Live 2023, Kevin Esvelt explained how increasingly powerful gene drive technologies could provide some amazing potential applications, for example in helping to eradicate diseases such as malaria. However, with single laboratories potentially being able to edit the bulk of a species, defenses, checks and balances need to be in place to ensure that the potential unintended consequences of these changes have been fully explored, and that the human populations affected by such changes have been fully consulted. Using the work being done to prevent Lyme disease in Massachusetts, Kevin explained that this approach takes open science a step further, by ensuring that early-stage community guidance is undertaken before an application for a new technology is developed.

Dr Kevin Esvelt is an exponential biologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He was the first to describe how the CRISPR gene-editing technology could be used to build gene drive systems and so alter wild populations. Kevin is an advocate for accelerating beneficial advances while safeguarding biotechnology against mistrust and misuse.

Frontiers Forum Live showcases science-led solutions for healthy lives on a healthy planet. The event is held annually in Montreux, Switzerland and there are virtual sessions throughout the year. Find out more and watch previous sessions at https://forum.frontiersin.org/.