The promise and perils of new technologies in genetic engineering will be examined in a major forum on October 21, sponsored by the University at Buffalo School of Law.

The forum, titled “Editing the Environment: Emerging Issues in Genetics and the Law,” will begin at 2 p.m. at the Center for the Arts, on UB’s North Campus. This is the latest Mitchell Lecture, the School of Law’s signature lecture series that since 1951 has brought distinguished legal scholars to speak on the most important issues in law.

Emerging biotechnologies such as CRISPR and gene drives are ushering in a new era of genetic engineering. The technical means to modify life are becoming cheaper, faster, more accurate, and more widely accessible. Gene editing technologies have already made it possible to engineer ourselves, our food animals and our crops. More recently, they are also being developed to drive to extinction certain species such as mosquitoes and ticks, with significant implications for the management of human diseases, including malaria and Zika.

What kind of futures do gene editing technologies portend, and what guides their regulation? This year’s Mitchell Lecture will explore the cultural, scientific, ecological and legal implications of gene editing technologies for the future of life.

Three distinguished speakers from law, science, and governance – as well as a dozen scholars from a wide array of disciplines and professional backgrounds – will examine the evolving regulatory approaches to gene editing.

Kevin Esvelt, Media Lab, MIT
Sculpting Ecosystems, Responsive Science
Esvelt’s research focuses on evolutionary approaches to the engineering of ecosystems ranging from the microbial to the global. His discoveries offer new ways to control vector-borne and parasitic diseases, as well as agricultural pests and environmentally damaging invasive species.

Lori Andrews, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Controlling Our “Nature”: Gene Editing in Law and in the Arts
Andrews, an internationally recognized expert on emerging technologies and the author of eleven books, has been an adviser on genetic and reproductive technology to Congress, the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the federal Department of Health and Human Services, among others.

Sheila Jasanoff, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
The Moving Finger Writes: Gene Editing and Imaginaries of Control
Jasanoff directs the school’s Program on Science, Technology and Society. Her work explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies, with particular attention to the nature of public reason.

Irus Braverman, University at Buffalo School of Law

Irus Braverman is Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of Geography at SUNY Buffalo. She writes at the intersections of nature, animals, and the law. Braverman’s books include Zooland: The Institution of Captivity and Wild Life: The Institution of Nature.