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Identifying potential adverse environmental effects of genetically engineered insects

Projects:
IGERT: Risk Analysis for Introduced Species and Genotypes
Institution:
University of Minnesota at Twin Cities
Primary Strategic Goal:
Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.
Secondary Strategic Goal:
Learning: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.

Achievement/Results

NSF-IGERT researchers at the University of Minnesota developed a new approach for identifying the potential adverse environmental effects of deliberate releases of genetically engineered insects. This new approach enabled them to identify many new kinds of potential adverse effects than had been previously done, and will help ensure that genetically engineered insects can be used safely in the future. Many insects are being genetically engineered, and species of insect crop pests and disease vectors experts are engineered to suppress natural populations to reduce crop losses and disease. As nearly all of these targets are pests and considered detrimental, it is even more important to make sure that they can be used safely.

Address Goals

The approach is new knowledge and can be used for many different kinds of deliberate releases of organisms into the environment.

Posted By:
Raymond Newman
Posted:
December 2, 2013