URoL:ASC: Next-Generation Biological Security and Bio-Hackathon

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Biotechnologies include a variety of technologies that improve the quality of life for billions of people worldwide. Contemporary biotechnologies often use living systems or living materials – typically in the form of an engineered cell – used to treat or diagnose disease, manufacture biofuels, or produce foods or dietary supplements. These could be thought of as biological assets. Biological security is a process that is used to prevent the unwanted release or capture of a given biological asset, especially if this asset is potentially pathogenic or harmful to the environment. Current approaches to biological security rely primarily on restricting physical access: for instance, the biological assets are confined in high bio-security labs. The current solution lacks any measures to prevent the unwanted proliferation of the biological material once the asset has breached its restricted environment. This is the equivalent of protecting your data by having your cell phone unprotected by a password, but storing it in a locked drawer. Your data is protected, as long as the phone remains locked. However, anybody getting physical possession of the phone will be able to use it and access your data. Similarly, with the current biosecurity approach, anybody can use the biological asset if they get access to it. The objective of this research is to develop bio-security measures that are inherently embedded in the biotechnology asset, much like the embedded password authentication on your phone. This embedded security prevents someone from accessing your data even if they have physical possession of the phone. The successful completion of this research will result in a paradigm shift in biological security and security protocols. In addition to dramatically improving containment and asset protection, the resulting technologies will increase public confidence in the use of engineered biological systems. The objective of this research is to transition biological security from an operational technology platform to a novel biologically intrinsic informational technology platform. To accomplish this will require the convergence of biological engineering informed by a prescribed set of rules of life, cybersecurity principles, and chemical engineering workflows. Biosecurity predicated on intrinsic informational technology will enable the development of scalable active protection measures and passive containment strategies for any engineered chassis cell or consortium of chassis cells. The use of cybersecurity principles will enable biological engineers and related stakeholders to define and establish the standards and protocols for next-generation biosecurity systems, in addition to staging and conducting penetration tests for the iterative improvement of biological security systems. This plan of action will facilitate use-inspired research via deploying synthetic-decision making and synthetic memory and complementary engineered parts to design, build, and test ascending iterations of biosecurity. Assessment of the impact of next-generation biosecurity will be achieved via a consortium of co-producers that include security specialists, policy makers, industrial partners, and national organizations. In addition, this research program will be used to develop innovative education and training activities aimed at fostering convergent research. The societal impact of this research will be many-fold and is aimed at reducing the anxiety associated with the use of engineer biological systems, increased biosecurity measures that are of interest to national security, and addressing a general interest in improving containment measures from federal institutions to improve biosafety. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.