Most Promising Projects

1.  Surveillance and Early Detection


Companies Working on Early Detection Systems

1.1 Real-Time Detection Systems

[research needed]


Companies Working on Real-time detection systems

1.2 Air Sampler

[research needed]


Companies Working On Air Sampling


1.3 Biological Weapon Sensors for Military and Civilian Protection


[research needed]


Companies Working in the Space


1.4 Rapid Diagnostics



Companies Working On Rapid Diagnostics

1.5 Pathogen Detection from Smell

[research needed]


Companies Working On Rapid Diagnostics

1.6 Wast Water Sampling

CDC is partnering with GincoBioworks to monitor waste water of airplanes that are entering the US. The test pilot has already been successfully tested in JFK. 



Companies Working On Wastewater Sampling:

1.7 Companies Developing Breath Sampling

[research needed]


Companies Working On Breath Sampling:

2. Vaccines



Companies Working On Vaccines:

3. Sequence Screening and Attribution

Summary:

“The DNA synthesis industry has, since the invention of gene-length synthesis, worked proactively to ensure synthesis is carried out securely and safely. Informed by guidance from the U.S. government, several of these companies have collaborated over the last decade to produce a set of best practices for customer and sequence screening prior to manufacture. Taken together, these practices ensure that synthetic DNA is used to advance research that is designed and intended for public benefit. With increasing scale in the industry and expanding capability in the synthetic biology toolset, it is worth revisiting current practices to evaluate additional measures to ensure the continued safety and wide availability of DNA synthesis. Here we encourage specific steps, in part derived from successes in the cybersecurity community, that can ensure synthesis screening systems stay well ahead of emerging challenges, to continue to enable responsible research advances. Gene synthesis companies, science and technology funders, policymakers, and the scientific community as a whole have a shared duty to continue to minimize risk and maximize the safety and security of DNA synthesis to further power world-changing developments in advanced biological manufacturing, agriculture, drug development, healthcare, and energy.”


4. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Summary:

“In-depth considerations: how do you avoid contaminating yourself during doffing? How do you sterilize your PPE? One promising option: use low-wavelength light ~222nm. It’s prominent in our soon-to-be-published roadmap to eliminating catastrophic biorisk for a reason.”


Companies Working On PPEs:

5. Stopping Gain of Function Research

6. HVAC System Improvements


Companies developing improved HVAC systems

7. Sterilizing: UV-C lamps


Companies in the field:

8. Developing Pandemic-Safe Buildings

Companies developing pandemic-safe buildings:

9. Pathogen Characterization

Abstract:

Biology can be misused, and the risk of this causing widespread harm increases in step with the rapid march of technological progress. A key security challenge involves attribution: determining, in the wake of a human-caused biological event, who was responsible. Recent scientific developments have demonstrated a capability for detecting whether an organism involved in such an event has been genetically modified and, if modified, to infer from its genetic sequence its likely lab of origin. We believe this technique could be developed into powerful forensic tools to aid the attribution of outbreaks caused by genetically engineered pathogens, and thus protect against the potential misuse of synthetic biology.

Summary:

Genetic engineering attribution, a method using machine learning algorithms to trace genetically engineered organisms back to their originating labs, is an emerging field. This technique, showcased in the Genetic Engineering Attribution Challenge, achieved over 80% accuracy in predicting the lab that created a specific genetic sequence. The technology has broad biosecurity implications, potentially deterring bioengineered weapons use, holding labs accountable for virus leaks, and protecting biological intellectual property. However, more research is needed to handle fully engineered viruses and bacteria and cases where the lab's "genetic fingerprints" are deliberately concealed.

Summary:

AltLabs ran the Genetic Engineering Attribution Challenge, a competition with $30,000 prize pools for both the Prediction and Innovation tracks. Over 300 teams globally participated, aiming to identify the source of genetically engineered DNA sequences. The top teams could predict the origin of an unfamiliar DNA sequence with nearly 95% accuracy given ten guesses, surpassing the previous best of 85%. The challenge showcased a variety of innovative machine learning approaches for genetic engineering attribution, emphasizing the potential for enhanced accountability and transparency in synthetic biology.


10. Medical Countermeasures


Companies in the field:

11. Other Interesting Projects

[research needed]


Companies in the field:


[research needed]


Companies in the field:


[research needed]


Companies in the field: