Katie Willis

This study investigates the role of the femaleless gene in Anopheles gambiae gametogenesis and its impact on CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive efficacy, showing that disrupting fle causes female sterility and limits gene drive spread.

This paper introduces engineered balanced lethal systems using CRISPR-based gene drives to sustainably modify wild population densities for suppression or enhancement.

This paper develops self-limiting genetic strategies using genomic editors to suppress pest populations more efficiently than traditional methods.

This paper proposes a self-limiting gene drive strategy called MDFS to suppress malaria mosquito populations by causing female sterility while allowing fertile males to spread the trait.

The paper introduces a Y chromosome-linked genome editor (YLE) for population suppression in Anopheles gambiae, showing it is up to 8 times more efficient than other self-limiting strategies.

The paper designs a neutral genetic construct that balances gene drive and selection to achieve localized population suppression, showing it can be 100-1000 times more efficient than sterile males.

This paper models a gene drive design using Y-linked editors and sex ratio distorters to suppress pest populations efficiently and locally, showing it can work with low release rates and is sensitive to allele frequency changes.

The paper evaluates resistance to a CRISPR-based gene drive by simulating high selection pressure in Anopheles gambiae and identifies a resistant mutation at an ultra-conserved site.

The paper proposes and models double drive gene drive designs to enable localized population genetic control by exploiting sequence differences between target and non-target populations.