Key Takeaways
- Agragene has received grants from the USDA New World Screwworm Grand Challenge and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) to develop its precision-guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT) for screwworm control.
- The USDA grant was awarded through a competitive process involving hundreds of submissions; both grants are intended to fund further research on Agragene's insect sterility technology.
- Agragene's pgSIT technology uses CRISPR-based genetics to produce healthy, sterile male flies that compete for mates with wild female screwworm — suppressing populations without chemical pesticides.
- Agragene was selected as a collaborator on projects led by Dr. Max Scott of North Carolina State University and Dr. Molly Duman Scheel of Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of Notre Dame Eck Institute for Global Health.
- New World screwworm is a devastating livestock pest that causes significant losses to cattle and other animals; its resurgence has prompted urgent calls from ranchers for more effective and scalable control tools.
Agragene Secures USDA and FFAR Grants to Advance Screwworm Sterile Insect Technology
Agragene has been awarded grants from the USDA New World Screwworm Grand Challenge and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research to accelerate development of its precision-guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT) as a biological control tool for New World screwworm. The USDA funding was selected through a competitive process drawing hundreds of submissions, and both grants are designed to support further research on Agragene's approach to insect population control.
New World screwworm is a parasitic fly that attacks livestock and other warm-blooded animals by laying eggs in open wounds, with larvae feeding on living tissue. Its recent resurgence has heightened concern among cattle ranchers about the adequacy of existing control tools.
How Agragene pgSIT Works and Why It Differs
Agragene's pgSIT technology uses CRISPR-based genetic engineering to produce male screwworm flies that are healthy and competitive for mating but sterile. When released into wild populations, these sterile males mate with wild females — preventing reproduction without offspring. The approach draws on the same basic principle as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) already used in screwworm eradication programmes, but aims to improve efficiency and scalability by producing healthier, more competitive sterile males.
“These awards provide an important opportunity to accelerate development of next-generation genetic biocontrol technologies for New World screwworm. The resurgence of this devastating pest underscores the urgent need for new tools that can complement existing control strategies. Our precision-guided sterile insect technique uses CRISPR-based genetics to produce healthy, sterile males that remain competitive for mates in the wild, with the potential to improve the efficiency and scalability of future screwworm control programs,” said Dr. Omar S. Akbari, co-founder of Agragene and Tata Chancellor's Endowed Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California San Diego.
“Agragene is excited for the opportunity to develop its pgSIT technology to address New World screwworm. In talking with ranchers, it's clear they need improved tools. The technology offers a cost-effective, scalable platform to bring healthy sterile males to combat this devastating insect. Agragene's experience in pgSIT development and regulatory work will be a key advantage to bring this technology forward rapidly,” said Bryan Witherbee, CEO of Agragene.
Research Collaborations and Next Steps
The grants support Agragene's participation as a collaborator on projects led by Dr. Max Scott of North Carolina State University and Dr. Molly Duman Scheel of Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of Notre Dame Eck Institute for Global Health. The company's existing regulatory experience with pgSIT applications for other invasive pest species is expected to help move the screwworm programme forward more quickly than a greenfield research effort would allow.
