The folks over at Big Think (with the modest tagline "Your daily microdose of genius") have a story about the latest experiments with CRISPR and mosquitos: CRISPR modified mosquitoes don't transmit malaria to humans.
Scientists have been running tests to see if they can eradicate malaria in mosquitos without wiping out the species. They're getting closer. From the article:
FREP1 knockout mutants showed a profound suppression of infection with both human and rodent malaria parasites, while it also resulted in fitness costs: a significantly lower blood-feeding propensity, fecundity and egg hatching rate, and a retarded larval development and pupation time, and reduced longevity after a blood meal.
Of course, scientists don't want to eradicate malaria from just one mosquito. For population-wide impact, that requires a gene drive.
In the video above, Jennifer Doudna — credited with unleashing the CRISPR revolution in 2012 — explains how CRISPR's gene drive could revive extinct species — or create new ones.