Gene drives for controlling the invasive Grey Squirrel in the UK at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com

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Dr B Whitelaw, Dr G Gorjanc No more applications being accepted Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

About the Project

The Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is native to North America and has been introduced into Europe. In contrast, the red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is common throughout Eurasia, although its numbers have drastically decreased in the UK since the Grey Squirrel was introduced; in the UK the Grey Squirrel is regarded as an invasive species. The Grey Squirrel is a carrier of Squirrel Pox which is lethal to the Red Squirrel. It has been predicted that without conservation, the Red Squirrel could be lost from the UK by 2030.
A manageable and robust strategy to secure the future of the Red Squirrel through effective control of the Grey Squirrel remains to be established. CRISPR-based gene drives may offer a humane, species-specific and cost-effective control strategy and can be considered as an option to control invasive species populations.
The gene drive concept has emerged from observations that naturally occurring selfish genetic elements are preferentially inherited at frequencies greater than predicted by Mendelian inheritance. The recent repurposing of CRISPR/Cas into a set of gene-editing tools has allowed for the development of synthetic gene drives.
CRISPR-based gene drives could be deployed to distort the sex ratio of Grey Squirrel. By skewing the sex ratio away from the favoured ratio of 1:1 male to female, it is possible to manipulate the reproductive performance of this pest. In most pest species, female reproductive performance is responsible for maintaining the overall population size. Therefore, an efficient and humane means of population suppression is to bias the sex ratio in favour of males.
This project will design and model several sex-ratio distorting gene drive approaches for controlling the invasive Grey Squirrel in the UK. These gene drive strategies will then be developed in Grey Squirrel cells to demonstrate our ability the engineer these systems. The outputs from this project will be used to make real-world decisions on the potential of gene drives for controlling the invasive Grey Squirrel in the UK.

Other projects available:
We would encourage applicants to list up to three projects of interest (ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice) from those listed with a closing date of 10th January 2020 at https://www.ed.ac.uk/roslin/work-study/opportunities/studentships

Funding Notes

3.5 year PhD
Applications including a statement of interest and full CV with names and addresses (including email addresses) of two academic referees, should be emailed to [Email Address Removed].
When applying for the studentship please state clearly the project title/s and the supervisor/s in your covering letter.

All applicants should also apply through the University's on-line application system for September 2020 entry via
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees/index.php?r=site/view&id=829

References

McFarlane, G. R., Whitelaw, C. B. A., & Lillico, S. G. (2018). CRISPR-Based Gene Drives for Pest Control. Trends Biotechnol, 36(2), 130-133. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2017.10.001

Gonan S, Jenko J, Gorjanc G, Mileham AJ, Whitelaw CBA and Hickey JM (2017) Potential of gene drives with genome editing to increase genetic gain in livestock breeding programs. Genet Sel Evol 49, 3. doi: 10.1186/s12711-016-0280-3.

Prowse, T. A. A., Cassey, P., Ross, J. V., Pfitzner, C., Wittmann, T. A., & Thomas, P. (2017). Dodging silver bullets: good CRISPR gene-drive design is critical for eradicating exotic vertebrates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1860). doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0799

Where will I study?

University of Edinburgh

One of the world''s top universities, consistently ranked in the world top 50 and placed 20th in the QS World University Rankings 2020. We provide a stimulating working, learning and teaching environment with access to excellent facilities and attract the world''s best, from Nobel Prize winning laureates to future explorers, pioneers and inventors.

Gene drives for controlling the invasive Grey Squirrel in the UK

University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine