We analyze trends to help government and society harness biotechnology’s potential to promote health and new industries, as well as understand the potential for its misuse. It includes examination of the biotechnology workforce, infrastructure and funding that supports biotechnology research. Research topics include biological safety infrastructure and regulations, global biosecurity policies, genome editing techniques and the use of AI in biological discovery.

Analysis

Understanding the Global Gain-of-Function Research Landscape

Caroline Schuerger Steph Batalis Katherine Quinn Ronnie Kinoshita Owen Daniels Anna Puglisi

| August 2023

Gain- and loss-of-function research have contributed to breakthroughs in vaccine development, genetic research, and gene therapy. At the same time, a subset of gain- and loss-of-function studies involve high-risk, highly virulent pathogens that could spread widely among humans if deliberately or unintentionally released. In this report, we map the gain-...

Analysis

A Shot of Resilience

Steph Batalis Anna Puglisi

| May 2023

Vaccines keep the U.S. public healthy while safeguarding economic stability and biosecurity. This report assesses the domestic vaccine manufacturing landscape and identifies two major vulnerabilities: a reliance on foreign manufacturers and a lack of manufacturing redundancy. Maintaining a resilient vaccine supply will require the U.S. government to take steps to...

Analysis

Viral Families and Disease X: A Framework for U.S. Pandemic Preparedness Policy

Caroline Schuerger Steph Batalis Katherine Quinn Amesh Adalja Anna Puglisi

| April 2023

Pandemic threats are increasing as globalization, urbanization, and encroachment on animal habitats cause infectious outbreaks to become more frequent and severe. It is imperative that the United States build a pipeline of medical countermeasure development, beginning with basic scientific research and culminating in approved therapies. This report assesses preparedness for...

Large Language Models in Biology

Steph Batalis Caroline Schuerger Vikram Venkatram

| June 16, 2023

Steph Batalis, Caroline Schuerger and Vikram Venkatram explore three notable areas in the life sciences where LLMs are catalyzing meaningful advances: drug discovery, genetics, and precision medicine.

Anna Puglisi

Senior Fellow

Caroline Schuerger

Research Fellow

Katherine Quinn

Data Scientist

Steph Batalis

Research Fellow

Vikram Venkatram

Research Analyst

CSET Director of Biotechnology Programs and Senior Fellow Anna Puglisi provided insights into China's illicit efforts to acquire genetic data from the United States in Politico's Morning Cybersecurity. She pointed out that such data will serve a wide variety of interests, from health care to agriculture. “It’s enablers like sequencing and other tools of discovery that are going to drive the bioeconomy, that are going to drive precision medicine,” she said. “The more data you have, the more you can start to understand what genes do.”

CSET's Anna Puglisi expresses her concerns over Chinese genome sequencing company BGI Group entering the U.S. sequencing market.

CSET's Anna Puglisi discusses the future of biotechnology in Titus Talks.