Guest speaker to talk about use of CRISPR to help chestnut
Erik Carlson, a graduate student in plant science and biotechnology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will talk about a new technology that could reintroduce blight-free American Chestnut trees to the forest.
Erik Carlson, a graduate student in plant science and biotechnology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will talk about a new technology that could reintroduce blight-free American Chestnut trees to the forest.
Carlson will give his talk, “CRISPR as applied to chestnut tree preservation,” at noon Oct. 19 in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. The talk is free and open to the public.
“CRISPR is a 'hot' new genetic engineering tool, and Erik has been working in the lab of well-known scientist William Powell, who is trying to use genetic engineering to save the American Chestnut tree,” said Dr. Lauren Yaich, associate professor of biology at Pitt-Bradford.
A recent article in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science magazine explained that Powell's lab has developed a blight-free version of the American Chesnut. Carlson is now working with those specimens using CRISPR, a technology that allows scientists to sip a gene from one species and insert it into another.
An invasive blight came to the United States in the early 1900s and wiped out most chestnut trees in America.
Scientists at SUNY ESF have applied for permission to breed the genetically modified trees with non-engineered specimens and plant the descendants in forests.
Carlson's talk is being sponsored by the Division of Biological and Health Sciences and Dr. Richard E. McDowell, president emeritus.