IBBIS

New paper update: screening today flags DNA orders that look like known dangerous sequences, so anything rewritten to look different slips through. This IBBIS co-authored paper argues that screening for what a sequence does is within reach, starting with toxins.

New paper update: companies making DNA to order have to decide which sequences to flag before shipping, and there is no agreed definition of what counts. This paper gives the first results from the IBBIS-run Sequence Biosecurity Risk Consortium on building one.

Adam Abdullahi is joining IBBIS as a fellow. He's a Nigerian virologist based at Cambridge and the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria. His work will look at how Africa's research and lab capacity can grow while biosecurity and dual-use risks are managed.

New paper update: screening a DNA order means checking the sequence and also checking the customer ordering it. This paper sets out the emerging standards for customer screening, written by IBBIS while building our own screening forms.
Read: frontiersin.org/journals/bioen…

Speaking at the 9th BWC Working Group session, IBBIS Deputy Director O'Neil Hamilton made the case for synthetic DNA screening: it lowers biological risk, serves public health needs, and is consistent with obligations under the Convention.