Industry Day: GUARDIAN

BTO will host an in-person and virtual Industry Day for the Genetic Utilization for Advanced Regulation and Defense of Indigenous and Native Species (GUARDIAN) program. The Industry Day is on Jan. 27, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. ET.

Advance registration is required. The deadline is Jan. 22, 2026.

The GUARDIAN program seeks to develop Gene Drive Technologies (GDT) that can reach fieldablility in 24 months targeting the controllable elimination of the Brown Tree Snake from Guam (BTS, located in Guam only).

Eradicating invasive species is a critical imperative for homeland security and agricultural resilience. Invasive species have already inflicted over $2.2 trillion in global damage in the past six decades. To combat this, the GUARDIAN project aims to develop and deploy advanced genome editing tools to precisely and controllably eliminate the invasive Brown Tree Snake (BTS) from Guam, while adhering to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulatory standards. 

This adaptable toolkit will provide the Department of War and interagency partners with a vital resource for defending ecosystem health, potentially extending to a wide range of invasive species threats, focused on vertebrate control.geting the controllable elimination of the Brown Tree Snake from Guam (BTS, located in Guam only).