CSET’s Anna Puglisi was cited in an article by CNN that delves into China’s efforts to become a global leader in the biosciences by investing billions of dollars and collecting vast amounts of genetic data from its 1.4 billion population. China aims to use the genetic data for studying diseases, developing pharmaceuticals, and understanding genetic factors contributing to longevity, among other applications. The article also highlights China’s new regulations which tighten controls on foreign access to genetic data, in contrast to Western nations that promote global data sharing.

During a 2021 US Senate hearing on national security, Puglisi emphasized, “China has amassed the largest genomic holdings of anywhere in the world.” She further highlighted, “Understanding what genes do is “one of the most important questions in the next generation of both medicine and also biological research.” Puglisi also noted, “Access to that kind of data, both their own and from other places in the world, gives them an advantage in figuring out some of those problems.”

Read the full article on CNN.