Recommendations

[e-conference]

Based on the current state-of-the-art, please let us know what kind of recommendations you would like to give in order to ensure a safe, secure and ethically acceptable development in synthetic biology.

First of all, is there any need for recommendations? If yes, what could and what should be done?

Recommendations could address one or more of the following groups: policy makers, scientists, funding agencies, industry (associations) and other interest groups, or other stakeholder.

[markus.fischer]

I am managing director of Entelechon - a gene synthesis company - which in turn is a member of the IASB (industry association synthetic biology). Therefore my perspective is an industrial one, but I would like to emphasize that I herein speak strictly for myself, not for the IASB. My recommendations are:

1. Any biosecurity and biosafety efforts should be directed by the public, not the industry, i.e. by government programs, public research funding and/or philanthropic foundations. The industry is definitely willing to make the first step, but eventually this must turn into a public effort.

2. Fund early: The current costs of developing biosecurity solutions as 'seeds' that will grow into much more mature systems over time are extremely modest, compared to what is at stake and what is spent elsewhere. This is a perfect time window for administrative funding to get the most 'bang for the buck'. As synbio becomes more complex, costs will increase drastically for biosafety and biosecurity to catch up.

3. Create a publicly funded Institute for Synthetic Biology with a strong focus on basic research, safety and security. There are initiatives for synbio institutes, but they are mostly occupied with applied research. A basic research institute could provide a central place to direct and guide biosecurity and biosafety developments, to host and curate databases of sequences and experiments of concern and to accumulate knowledge about the properties of emerging synthetic systems.