HOW TO BE AN ANTI-RACIST:

For the first time, scientists have shown that a new kind of genetic engineering can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

In the landmark study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers placed the genetically modified mosquitoes in a special laboratory that simulated the conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, where they spread the deadly disease.

The male mosquitoes were engineered with a sequence of DNA known as a "gene drive" that can rapidly transmit a deleterious mutation that essentially wipes out populations of the insects.

The goal is to create a powerful new tool to fight malaria, which remains one of the world's most terrible scourges.

"Our study is the first [that] could show that gene-drive technology works under ecologically challenging conditions," said Ruth Müller, an entomologist who led the research at Polo GGB, a high-security lab in Terni, Italy. "This is the big breakthrough that we made with our study."

This research is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a sponsor of NPR and this blog.

Internationally, malaria is responsible for approximately 1-3 million deaths per year. Of these deaths, the overwhelming majority are in children aged 5 years or younger, and 80-90% of the deaths each year are in rural sub-Saharan Africa. 

Tweet   @brothersjudd