[LTER-All-lter] Fwd: Invitation: AIBS program on Zika virus and the potential use of gene drive as control agent

[Robert Waide]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Invitation: AIBS program on Zika virus and the potential use 
of gene drive as control agent
Date: 	Wed, 24 Feb 2016 10:15:38 -0500
From: 	Robert Gropp <rgropp at aibs.org>
To: 	AIBS Public Policy Committee mailing list 
<publicpolicycommittee-l at aibs.org>



AIBS Public Policy Committee Members,

I would like to invite you to join AIBS for an important upcoming 
webinar we have organized to explore the potential use of gene drive 
technology to control the spread of Zika virus.  I also encourage you to 
share this announcement with you members, colleagues, and anyone else 
you think might be interested in this program.

Program details and registration are available at
https://www.aibs.org/events/leadership/using-gene-drives-to-counter-zika.html

Program info:

Using Gene Drives to Counter Zika
Location: Online
Presented by: Bioscience
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
1:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 Hour

The rapid spread of the Zika virus in the Americas has prompted 
international concern because of its apparent link to birth defects, 
including microcephaly, in infants born to infected women. The virus may 
also be linked to cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disabling immune 
disorder. The World Health Organization has declared the Zika outbreak 
an international health emergency.

The virus is spread by the bite of Aedes mosquitoes, which also transmit 
dengue and chikungunya virus, among other pathogens. Suppressing 
these mosquitoes would therefore likely limit the spread of these 
diseases as well as Zika. One way to suppress Aedes populations now 
being researched would involve a "gene drive," a genetic construct that 
once introduced into wild populations is expected to spread rapidly. 
Such a construct could be designed to bring about a population crash, 
for example by distorting the sex ratio in mosquito populations. Despite 
the promise, using gene drives to control wild species raises ethical 
questions that are only now being addressed.

In this AIBS Webinar, prominent experts will address what we know about 
the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of Zika, the status of 
research on gene drives that might be able to control Aedes populations, 
and ethical considerations around the use of gene drives.

Speakers: Davidson H. Hamer, MD, Boston University School of Public Health
                 Zach N. Adelman, PhD, Virginia Tech
                 Sahotra Sarkar, PhD, University of Texas, Austin



Thank you,
Rob




___________________________________________
*Robert Gropp, Ph.D.*
Interim Co-Executive Director
American Institute of Biological Sciences
1444 I (Eye) Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-628-1500 x 250
www.aibs.org <http://www.aibs.org>
Twitter: AIBS_Policy

*This message is confidential and should only be read by its intended 
recipients.  If you have received it in error, please notify the sender 
and delete all copies.*
*
*
*- Biodiversity Collections Network: Building a Sustainable National 
Community (*http://bcon.aibs.org*)*
*
*
*- Become an advocate for biology at the AIBS Legislative Action Center
(*http://capwiz.com/aibs/home/*)

- Receive the latest science policy news, sign up for the AIBS Public 
Policy Report (*http://www.aibs.org/public-policy-signup/*)

*



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lternet.edu/pipermail/all-lter/attachments/20160224/4251b128/attachment.html>