Ep. 29 - Biosafety and Biosecurity in DIYbio with Todd Kuiken
In this installment of the Future Grind podcast host Ryan O’Shea speaks with Todd Kuiken, Senior Research Scholar at the Genetic Engineering & Society Center at North Carolina State University. In this role Todd travels the world to study biosafety and biosecurity within the do-it-yourself biology community. Todd previously spent time in Washington D.C., leading both the Wilson Center’s Synthetic Biology Project, and their the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. They discuss his collaboration with DIYbio.org, safety within citizen science, the handling of public perception, what is holding DIYbio back, and more!
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Show Notes
Who is Todd & what does he do? [1:47]
What is DIYbio? [2:21]
Defining synthetic biology [3:21]
The birth of diybio.org [4:05]
The beginning of DIYbio [5:01]
Todd’s interesting background [6:15]
The Wilson Center [8:47]
Genetic Engineering & Society [9:42]
A Code of Ethics [11:16]
“Ask a Biosafety Expert [15:13]
The Open Philanthropy Project and $700,000 for DIYbio safety [18:39]
“Responsible Oversight” [24:58]
The licensing controversy [26:56]
NSA & UN & others, oh my [30:02]
Real concerns surrounding DIYbio [31:46]
A place for Bioethics [34:26]
How DIYbio can stay on the good side [36:06]
Josiah Zayner, ethics, and self-experimentation [37:18]
Challenges facing DIYbio [40:11]
Where funding can come from [41:56]
Possible policy fixes [42:34]
How to get involved with DIYbio [44:06]
Mentioned
Mackenzie Cowell & Jason Bobe
Oultlaw Biology at UCLA
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
American Biological Safety Association
”Myths & Realities of the DIYbio Movement”
Open Philanthropy Project
Genspace, Dan Grushkin
Angela Armendariz
iGEM
Do-It-Yourself Biology: Reality and the Path Toward Innovation
George Church, New York Times article
Eleonore Pauwels
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Nature article - Governance: Learn from DIY biologists
Last Week Tonight - Gene Editing
Josiah Zayner - The ODIN
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