Strategies for Managing Biotechnology Risks

Abstract: Biotechnology is diffusing globally. Efficient methods for reading, writing and editing genetic information, generating genetic diversity, and selecting for traits, are becoming widely available. Increasingly, the capacity to manipulate living systems is in the hands of individuals and small groups instead of only large institutions and states.

In this presentation I will explore key governance challenges coupled to the reorganization of practitioner communities and supply chains in biotechnology. In particular, I will examine the effectiveness of strategies proposed by new US federal policies for the oversight of so-called Life Sciences Dual-Use Research of Concern (DURC): experiments that while seeking to mitigate certain risks may pose new ones. More broadly, I will consider options and tradeoffs in building more centralized versus decentralized organizational structures for identifying and responding to emerging biotechnology opportunities and threats.

About the Speaker: Dr. Megan J. Palmer is a William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at CISAC for 2013-2015. She is also a research scientist UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, and serves on the advisory board for the synthetic biology program at the Joint Genomics Institute (JGI). Dr. Palmer is an investigator for the NSF Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (Synberc) and serves as its Deputy Director of Policy & Practices. She was previously a postdoctoral scholar in the Bioengineering Department at Stanford, where she first joined CISAC as an affiliate in 2012.

Dr. Palmer’s work seeks to develop and advise on best practices and policies for responsibly advancing biotechnology. She has directed projects in biological safety and security, property rights, and governance. She has also launched many programs on the societal aspects of biotechnology.

Dr. Palmer holds a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT. She received a B.Sc.E. in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University, Canada.