Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics
The world witnessed the severe humanitarian and economic repercussions of pandemic pathogens during COVID-19 crisis, and we remain dangerously unprepared for future pandemics.
With the rate of zoonotic pathogen spread increasing and rapid technological advances in synthetic biology and AI, there exists the possibility of far deadlier pandemics, but also new opportunities to defend against them.
This podcast is from the Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics course, which covers technical and policy efforts to prevent, detect and respond to catastrophic pandemics.
Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics
Preventing the Misuse of DNA Synthesis
DNA synthesis represents the primary interface between the digital and physical worlds when it comes to synthetic biology - the point at which potentially hazardous information could become an actually dangerous piece of biological material. No national government legally mandates the screening of DNA synthesis orders, although members of the International Gene Synthesis Consortium voluntarily screen DNA synthesis orders and customers. This article briefly summarises the problem and recommends five potential policy areas for regulation.
Original text:
https://ifp.org/preventing-the-misuse-of-dna-synthesis/
Author(s):
Bridget Williams and Rowan Kane