- Using CRISPR gene-editing technology, Imperial College (UK) researchers have successfully manipulated mosquitoes’ DNA such that their procreations can’t carry malaria.
- The successful outcome took 15 years of research and $100 million in funding (mostly from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
- Increasingly pesticide-resistant malaria-carrying mosquitoes kill 500,000 people across Africa every year.
- Scientists still must test out mosquito gene-editing in more realistic environments such as jungles and savannas.
- Gene-editing will be more effective than prior mosquito sterilization efforts.
