Gregory Koblentz, a member of the Center’s Scientists Working Group, wrote an article for the Sacramento Business Journal about a California biosecurity bill that, if passed, would establish the first legally binding biosecurity measure for the synthetic biology industry in the U.S. — and in the world.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated not only how vulnerable our society is to contagious pathogens, but also the benefits of having a robust biomedical and pharmaceutical infrastructure that can develop new vaccines and therapeutics in record time.
The field of synthetic biology, the science of engineering microorganisms and creating new ones, has made important contributions to the fight against Covid-19. At the same time, recent troubling work in this field has raised concerns about the risks posed by the misuse of this technology — and California has the opportunity to lead the way on combating this misuse.” Read more
