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Work is underway to create a genetically altered wasp, which would be capable of eradicating all wasps.
Researchers are looking at whether a 'flaw' could be modified into an invasive wasp species, which would subsequently spread it through a colony.
Even if they're successful, the wasp they create will never actually be let out of the fully contained lab in Dunedin.
The main outcome of the $11m dollar project is to determine the ethics of gene-driven pest control, and to consider whether such a technology could protect biodiversity - and do it safely.
Amanda Black of Lincoln University is the co-director of Bioprotection Aotearoa, and the project's director researcher.
And Peter Dearden of Otago University is the deputy director researcher, and also the director of Genomics Aotearoa - the first outfit in the world to genetically sequence a wasp.
