Engineering gene drives for pest insect suppression (CHAPMAN_U27DTP)
Mediterranean fruitfly (medfly) is a global agricultural pest that causes annual billion-dollar losses and threatens food security. It is predicted to spread to the UK within the next 2 decades due to climate warming. CRISPR-based technologies enable significant advances for population suppression, and gene drives in particular offer promise for self-propagating, sustainable alternatives to pesticides for medfly and other key pests. However, a central obstacle remains: existing drives in medfly work in principle but are not field-ready. Through the receipt of interdisciplinary training, you will build, test and optimise critical components needed to close the gap to field readiness for this innovative control technology.
Based at the UEA, you will gain in-demand skills in CRISPR design, gene drive construction, single-nucleus transcriptomics, quantitative phenotyping and population modelling, supported by placements at Keele (applied agricultural entomology) and Imperial College (gene drives, synthetic biology).
You will develop and apply a split-drive optimisation pipeline, using the separation of Cas9 and gRNA components to directly identify the parameters that govern gene drive performance. A key focus is discrimination and optimisation: isolating which promoters, guides and targets improve homing while suppressing the factors that degrade drive efficiency such as resistance alleles and shadow drive. You will focus initially on optimising components and establishing phenotyping protocols, before moving on to selecting targets to test for field-deployability. Throughout, you will build translational insights.
You will be immersed within a tailored training environment designed to foster innovation and independence. This will equip you with state-of-the-art skills in CRISPR editing, cloning, insect handling, bioinformatics, and modelling, giving you a strong set of varied skills for future career development and ensuring that you are well-prepared to contribute to genetic biocontrol innovations from concept to application.