Keele Biologist appears as an invited expert on Radio Stoke
I would try to convince the next generation that research is a wonderful possibility for them, because this is a job in which you can have real vocation: I'm really interested in what I'm doing with my mosquitoes and when I realised that I could use this CRISPR technique for my research, I was very excited... - Dr Pelletier on Radio Stoke
Dr Julien Pelletier from Keele’s Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology (CAEP) was invited to comment on Radio Stoke’s morning show on Thursday Jan 29th.
The item was prompted by an announcement from the drug company Astra Zeneca of a major new programme of research on human genetic diseases, using a cutting-edge genetic engineering technology called CRISPR/Cas9 (for more details, see ‘AstraZeneca bets on 'genetic scissors' for range of new drugs’).
Dr Pelletier’s lab at Keele University is already using CRISPR technology to engineer the mosquitoes that spread malaria and many other diseases. Through this work, he hopes to gain a better understanding of how mosquitoes can smell out a human to bite and take a blood meal, with the ultimate aim of designing new mosquito control techniques.
Julien explained to the Radio Stoke listeners why CRISPR is such an exciting new technique for molecular biologists, how it could improve and accelerate his own research, and why careers in biology could be a really exciting option for young people today.
The show can be heard on BBC iPlayer here, with Julien appearing at ~7.25am.