TED’s Audacious Project is a $70 million initiative to improve health and sustainability in collaboration with UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco. The project’s goal is to make significant and positive change using CRISPR and genome-resolved metagenomics. Genome-resolved metagenomics allow scientists identify and analyze DNA from the species in an entire microbiome, and the CRISPR Cas9 system allows them to make precise edits to a genome. To put it simply, genome-resolved metagenomics helps researchers read DNA, and CRISPR helps them change it. These tools have infinite possibilities, and the Audacious Project wants to invest in them to solve social and environmental issues.

There are two objectives defined in the Innovative Genomics Institute’s press release on the Audacious Project in April of this year. One mission concerns changing something discussed previously on this website: methane emissions from cows. Davis professor Ermias Kebreab shared his research on how the addition of a certain type of seaweed to cows’ diets decreased their methane emissions by as much as 82%, which is the focus of an article published on this site just one day short of a year ago. The great reduction in methane generation after the consumption of seaweed occurs because it decreases the gene expression of certain microbes in cows’ guts that are responsible for the majority of each cows’ methane emissions. However, producing and distributing enough seaweed for every cow on Earth is no easy task, and it’s unrealistic to expect that each cow will receive the correct seaweed supplement considering the high proportion of cows that graze. The Audacious Project plans on decreasing cows’ methane production by editing the microbes in their guts. The goal is to be able to orally administer treatments that would change their gut microbiome early on, which would decrease each cow’s emissions for the rest of their life.

Another mission funded by the Audacious Project is preventing childhood asthma. Researchers at UCSF’s Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine determined that asthma development in infants is connected to the microbial composition in their guts, and have even identified the bacteria that increase the risk of developing asthma. This project aims to produce a therapy that edits a patient’s microbiome to treat asthma. In the US, this would have a dramatic impact on people of color, who are disproportionately affected by asthma, and “[g]lobally, it would have an outsized impact on people in low- and middle-income countries, where the majority of asthma-related deaths occur” (Murdock).

The Audacious Project has earned its name from its ambitious goals, and will certainly make great change if it proves to be a success. Genetic engineering is such a promising and versatile tool, and it’s satisfying to see progress being made for the better in new and exciting ways.

I stumbled across this project whilst searching for someone to interview, as is required for an assignment in one of my courses. I was surprised and delighted to find something so up my alley- a project aiming to solve social and environmental issues (my main concern when it comes to change I want to make in life) using genetic engineering (hopefully my future career) collaborated on by the two universities I plan to attend (Davis for undergrad and Berkeley for postgrad). And it even focused on cows and seaweed?? Crazy stuff, man.

In this article, I mentioned Ermias Kebreab, the professor who did studies on cows and methane outputs after being fed seaweed. Well, in hopes to secure an interview for my assignment, I emailed him, and I’ll be speaking with him in a few weeks! He unfortunately isn’t available until after assignment is due, but I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to speak with him nonetheless. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll ask him, since he doesn’t have experience with genetic engineering, but I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and next week I’m thinking about writing about mushroom caskets. Riveting stuff, eh? Stay tuned to learn with me!

https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/can-crispr-cut-methane-emissions-cow-guts

https://innovativegenomics.org/news/audacious-project-crispr-microbiome/