Synthetic gene drives have the potential to solve seemingly intractable problems in public health, environmental conservation and agriculture. However, they also have the potential to cause negative environmental and human health effects.
Synthetic gene drives have the potential to solve seemingly intractable problems in public health, environmental conservation and agriculture. However, they also have the potential to cause negative environmental and human health effects.
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Site-specific selfish genes such as homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) can spread through populations as a gene drive due to their biased inheritance (Burt, 2003). They cleave a unique stretch of genomic DNA and as the cell repairs the hydrolysed DNA the HEG is copied into the cleaved site. Consequently the frequency of HEGs increases and they spread throughout a population.
Science meets Parliament brought researchers, political leaders, policy-makers and the media together over two intense days.
In January the Academy welcomed the new Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Senator Arthur Sinodinos AO, and congratulated Minister Greg Hunt MP on his appointment as Minister for Health and Sport.
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Space science and technology was on the political agenda following a Parliamentary Friends of Science breakfast held in Canberra in February.
Six Australian researchers travelled to Tokyo in late February to attend this year’s HOPE Meeting, which covered physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, and related fields.
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