Can CRISPR Cut Methane Emissions From Cow Guts?
TED Audacious Project Funds $70-Million UC Collaboration for Health, Climate
"University of California, Davis, scientists are teaming up with UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco researchers on a $70-million donor-funded initiative that aims in part to cut climate change-causing emissions from cattle by using the genome-editing tool CRISPR on microbes in the cows’ gut.
Professor Ermias Kebreab, known for his innovative research using feed additives to reduce methane emissions, and Associate Professor Matthias Hess will collaborate with a world-renowned team at UC Berkeley: Professors Jennifer Doudna and Jill Banfield. Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for her work to develop CRISPR genome-editing technology. Earlier this year, Banfield became the first woman to win the van Leeuwenhoek Medal for her impact on the field of microbiology.
The groundbreaking health and climate initiative will be funded by TED’s Audacious Project, which provides donor support to encourage the world’s greatest changemakers to dream bigger. Announced today at the TED conference in Vancouver, “Engineering the Microbiome with CRISPR to Improve our Climate and Health” is the largest scientific award funded through the project to date."