More Research Needed to Address Synthetic Biology Security Concerns

October 14, 2014

(Phys.org) – A new paper examines security risks and policy questions related to the growing field of synthetic biology. While the author doesn’t think the field is ripe for exploitation by terrorists, it does highlight significant gaps in our understanding of the nuts and bolts of lab work in synthetic biology that can contribute to security risks. “The driving question here is whether terrorists can easily draw on published synthetic biology research to develop new bioweapons,” says the paper’s author, Kathleen Vogel, a biochemist/social scientist at NC State who focuses on biosecurity issues.