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Published on: October 3, 2016
Addressing Biosecurity Barriers in High-Risk Biological Research
David R Gillum1, Randy A Albrecht1, Rebecca Caruso1
1David R. Gillum, PhD, is Associate Vice President, Compliance and Research Administration, University of Nevada, Reno, and Co-Founder, Tutela Strategies, LLC.; both in Reno, NV. Randy A. Albrecht, PhD, is Senior Director, Biosafety, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Rebecca Caruso, MPH, is Director, Committee on Microbiological Safety, Office of Biological Safety, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Amanda Craigen is Biological Safety Officer, Environmental Health and Safety, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Lesley Decker, MS, is a Biosafety Manager, Environmental Health and Safety, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Haley L. DeMers, PhD, is Director, BSL-3 Training Program, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA. Colleen Driskill is Director of Biosafety and Select Agent Responsible Official, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA. Robert Foreman, PhD, is Biosafety Officer, Research Safety, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. Deborah Howard, MPH, Expert, Global Environment, Environment Health and Safety, BASF Corporation, Durham, NC. Barbara Johnson, PhD, is Owner, Biosafety Biosecurity International, Merritt Island, FL. Jens H. Kuhn, PhD, is Principal Scientist and Director of Virology (Tunnell Government Services Contractor), Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD. Yong-Bee Lim, PhD, is Associate Director, Global Risk, Federation of American Scientists, Washington, DC. Rebecca L. Moritz, MS, is Co-Founder, Tutela Strategies, LLC, Reno, NV. Corrie Ntiforo, MSPH, is Director, Department of Biosafety, University of Texas Medical Branch; Galveston, TX. Luis Alberto Ochoa Carrera is High-Containment Lab and Pandemic Safety Manager, Environmental Health and Safety Office, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI. Gregory Park, PhD, is Director, Office of Biotechnology Activities Oversight, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Christina L. Pier, MS, is a Select Agent Responsible Official, Environment, Health, and Safety, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Antony Schwartz, PhD, is Director, Biological Safety Division, Occupational and Environmental Safety Office, Duke University, Durham, NC. Adrian Self is Operations Research Analyst, National Agricultural Biosecurity Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. Megan Shoff, PhD, is Institutional Biosafety Program Manager and Animal Biological Safety Officer, Research Compliance and Biosafety, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. Paul Skoglund, PhD, is Institutional Biosafety Committee Coordinator, Environmental Health and Safety, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Mary Turlington-Powell, MS, Director, Biosafety and Biosecurity, and Kathleen M. Vogel, PhD, is Associate Dean and Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures; both at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Hsiang-Ming Wang, PhD, is Director, Environmental Health and Safety, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX.
None:
Biological research, including dual-use research of concern and pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential, faces mounting regulatory scrutiny that may impact pandemic preparedness and scientific progress. At a 2024 deliberative workshop in Reno, Nevada, biosafety professionals, biosecurity experts, and life sciences researchers discussed potential barriers to effective governance, including ambiguous regulatory definitions, resource disparities between regulated institutions, and fragmented oversight frameworks that impose burdens without improving safety or security. By incorporating biosafety professionals' expertise into policymaking, fostering a collaborative dialogue over punitive and inconsistent enforcement, and securing ongoing funding for biosecurity programs, we call for actionable strategies to reduce risk while advancing safe, secure, and transformative biotechnological breakthroughs in the life sciences and strengthening national security.
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