The biosecurity benefits of genetic engineering attribution

Gregory Lewis (), Jacob L. Jordan, David A. Relman, Gregory D. Koblentz, Jade Leung, Allan Dafoe, Cassidy Nelson, Gerald L. Epstein, Rebecca Katz, Michael Montague, Ethan C. Alley, Claire Marie Filone, Stephen Luby, George M. Church, Piers Millett, Kevin M. Esvelt, Elizabeth E. Cameron and Thomas V. Inglesby
Additional contact information
Gregory Lewis: Oxford University
Jacob L. Jordan: Nuclear Threat Initiative
David A. Relman: Stanford University School of Medicine
Gregory D. Koblentz: George Mason University
Jade Leung: Oxford University
Allan Dafoe: Oxford University
Cassidy Nelson: Oxford University
Gerald L. Epstein: National Defense University
Rebecca Katz: Georgetown University
Michael Montague: Johns Hopkins University
Ethan C. Alley: Alt. Technology Labs, Inc.
Claire Marie Filone: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Stephen Luby: Stanford University School of Medicine
George M. Church: Alt. Technology Labs, Inc.
Piers Millett: Oxford University
Kevin M. Esvelt: Alt. Technology Labs, Inc.
Elizabeth E. Cameron: Nuclear Threat Initiative
Thomas V. Inglesby: Johns Hopkins University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-4

Abstract: Abstract Biology can be misused, and the risk of this causing widespread harm increases in step with the rapid march of technological progress. A key security challenge involves attribution: determining, in the wake of a human-caused biological event, who was responsible. Recent scientific developments have demonstrated a capability for detecting whether an organism involved in such an event has been genetically modified and, if modified, to infer from its genetic sequence its likely lab of origin. We believe this technique could be developed into powerful forensic tools to aid the attribution of outbreaks caused by genetically engineered pathogens, and thus protect against the potential misuse of synthetic biology.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19149-2

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