Copy

Genetic Engineering and Society Center

Integrating scientific knowledge & public values in shaping the futures of biotechnology

Center Updates

Feb 21, 2020  |  View in browser  |  Subscribe 

GES Colloquium 

Tuesdays 12-1PM, Poe 202
Darrell Stover on the Case of the Two Rita's
Watch video livestream & archives Watch video livestream & archives
GES Lectures Podcast GES Lectures Podcast
Twitter @GESCenterNCSU Twitter @GESCenterNCSU

Next Colloquium: Tuesday, 2/25

Science Poetry: Case of the Two Rita's

Darrell Stover, Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Studies, NC State

LinkedIn | Email

Expanding the general public's interest, understanding and acceptance of scientific knowledge is a perpetual challenge. The gap is considered bridgeable through multidisciplinary approaches. Arts and humanities is one such approach as evidenced by its combination with biotechnology, i.e. the "Art's Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures."

While visual and representative art coupled with laboratory science are this exhibition's major approach other forms of creativity are available. The communication of science via poetry combines the two worlds of C.P. Snow. "The Two Rita's" a poem, celebrates two highly-honored contributors to their fields, Pulitzer Prize recipient poet Rita Dove and former National Science Foundation director and American Association for the Advancement of Science president microbiologist Rita Colwell. It provides a keen example of the possibilities and opportunities for science communication through combining their significance in poetry that poses that there is no difference between the inherent creativity of the arts and sciences. 

Related video:

Symposium: Art's Work/Genetic Futures, 10/18/19 - Darrell Stover response to Joel Ong's Terra et Venti. (at 13:21)
 

Speaker Bio

Darrell Stover is a cultural historian, science communicator and performance poet. His career life has always been an intersection of science and art sifted through history with an emphasis on community and individual empowerment through the same. He is on the faculty at NC State University where he teaches “Black Popular Culture: From the Blues to Afrofuturism” and “Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society.” He studied microbiology and American Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park and acquired his Master of Arts degree in Science Writing from Johns Hopkins University. Read more >

LOOKING AHEAD: 3/3 COLLOQUIUM

Building a synbio toolbox to monitor and control plant hormone activity

Dr. Anna Stepanova, associate professor of plant biology and genetics at NC State, will talk about her group's efforts to harness the power of synthetic biology and develop new molecular tools to visualize activity of plant hormones and gain tighter control over spatiotemporal patterns of gene activity. Read more >
Ginko Creative Residency 2020
SKIN: DESIGNING BIOLOGICAL INTERFACES: Spend three months at Ginkgo working at the intersection of your creative discipline and synthetic biology. A joint initiative spearheaded and curated by Ginkgo Bioworks and Faber Futures, the Ginkgo Creative Residency provides an experimental platform for creative thinkers to explore both the potential and implications of synthetic biology from Ginkgo's HQ in Boston, MA, USA. Apply through March 13 >

In the News

Feb. 17, 2020, NC State CALS News: Four NC State research teams have been selected as recipients of the next phase of the Game-Changing Research Incentive Program (GRIP). The program was initially created in 2016 as a three-year seed-funding initiative to stimulate interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Now, a new initiative — called GRIP4PSI — will encourage the NC State community to collaborate on integrated research and outreach projects that focus on addressing the global challenges tackled by the N.C. Plant Science Initiative.

Three of the four GRIP4PSI Seed Grants, each worth up to $650,000 over three and a half years, include GES-affiliated faculty:

  • FUN-CROPS: Foliar fungal endophytes for enhanced crop sustainability and resilience

    Lead Principal Investigator: Christine Hawkes, professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology

    Co-Investigators: Nathan Crook, Jason Delborne, Kevin Garcia, Josh Gray, Ross Sozzani, Lindsey Thiessen, Gina Brown-Guedira, Peter Balint-Kurti, Ryan Heiniger, Michael Kudenov, Anna Locke, Cranos Williams

  • Plant-Aid: A Data-Driven and Sensor-Integrated Platform for Monitoring Emerging Plant Diseases

    Lead Principal Investigator: Jean Ristaino, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor and Director of Emerging Plant Disease

    Co-Investigators: Qingshan Wei, Yong Zhu, Anna Whitfield, Dorith Rotenberg, David Rasmussen, Inga Meadows, Kelly Zering, Robert Scheller, Chris Jones

  • Improving Crop Productivity and Value Through Heterogeneous Data Integration, Analytics, and Decision Support Platforms

    Lead Principal Investigator: Cranos Williams, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Co-Investigators:  Michael Kudenov, Mike Boyette, Anders Huseth,  Khara Grieger, Alessandra Scafuro, Natalie Nelson, Daniela Jones, Kemafor Ogan, Ross Sozzani, Edgar Lobaton, Craig Yencho, Ken Pecota, Jennifer Kuzma

Publications

GES-Related papers

recent paper in Issues in Science and Technology provides a broad summary of policy and regulatory issues surrounding gene drives. The authors discuss a variety of technologies falling under this broad heading, as well as related biological and biotechnological controls. They summarize relevant events at the Convention on Biological Diversity. They also summarize research on public attitudes towards gene drives in agriculture (including our GES affiliates' recent Science Advances paper) and in public health.

  • Gene Drives: New and Improved, by Robert M. Friedman, John M. Marshall, and Omar S. Akbari. Issues, vol. XXXVI, No. 2, Winter 2020

A new Science article discusses and references Todd Kuiken's DIYbio work: "For example, the implementation of the credential could be modeled after work being done within the DIYbio community, which involves obtaining widespread adoption of safety practices among distributed communities from around the world (10). This is an example of what can be achieved through engagement, communication, and partnership."

  • Policy Forum: Promoting biosecurity by professionalizing biosecurity, by Rebecca L. Moritz, Kavita M. Berger, Barbara R. Owen, David R. Gillum, Science. February 21, 2020

The distribution and spread of naturally occurring Medea selfish genetic elements in the United States

Sarah A. Cash, Marce D. Lorenzen, and Fred Gould. Ecol Evol, 2019; 9: 14407– 14416. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5876. Published: 27 November 2019. Download PDF
 

Articulating ‘free, prior and informed consent’ (FPIC) for engineered gene drives

Dalton R. George, Todd Kuiken, and Jason A. DelborneProc. Royal Soc. B. Vol. 286, Issue 1917. Published: 18 December 2019.
 

Scenario analysis on the use of rodenticides and sex-biasing gene drives for the removal of invasive house mice on islands

Megan E. Serr, Rene X. Valdez, Kathleen S. Barnhill-Dilling, John Godwin, Todd Kuiken & Matthew Booker.  Biological Invasions (2020) pp 1-14. Published: 02 January 2020.
 

Articulating ‘free, prior and informed consent’ (FPIC) for engineered gene drives

Dalton R. George, Todd Kuiken, and Jason A. DelborneProc. Royal Soc. B. Vol. 286, Issue 1917. Published: 18 December 2019.
 

See all GES Faculty Publications at go.ncsu.edu/ges-pubs

Website Website
@GESCenterNCSU @GESCenterNCSU
YouTube YouTube