Revision as of 20:40, 28 July 2010

Introduction: presentation of our project

Gene synthesis technology gives scientists an unparalleled capability to manipulate genomes. Over the past several decades, an entire commercial industry has developed to inexpensively produce genes on a large scale. It is this industry which provides the genes and standardized parts to make synthetic biology, and iGEM, possible.

Synthetic genomics, like synthetic biology, has the potential to be both a great benefit and a great detriment to public health and national security. A precedence for the dual use of synthetic genomics is the reconstruction of the virus responsible for the pandemic 1918 Spanish Flu in 2005 by researchers at the CDC (See more). Although this virus's genes were synthesized for legitimate research purposes, they could have just as easily been used to reconstructed a biological weapon. Although such engineering is difficult at the moment, advances in this technology over the next decade could make it easier for bioterrorists to harm the Public (Garfinkel et al. 2007). According to a 2004 report by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, its greatest security concern over the coming years is that terrorists will acquire biological agents for use as weapons of mass destruction (NIC, 2004).

Many genes encoding for or derived from dangerous toxins or pathogens can be freely accessed on the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank (NCBI-GenBank). The ease with which dangerous sequences can be located and synthesized presents novel threats to both public health and national security. To prevent illicit activities by end users of de novo synthesized genes, it is crucial to stop their manufacture at the source: gene synthesis companies. Therefore, effective and efficient screening measures must be developed to identify sequences of concern within a synthesis order.

The United States government recognizes its responsibility to protect the public and in November, 2009, published a draft guidance for sequence screening. As part of our iGEM 2010 project, we are implementing the draft Government guidance for sequence screening, characterizing its performance, and suggesting improvements. Our findings not only quantify the Government guidance for the first time, but also should help to provide future developers of screening software with the data necessary to develop more robust sequence screening tools.

Who are we?

We are a software team, composed by 5 students (2 from ENSIMAG and 3 from Virginia Tech) working in the Virginia Bioinformatics Institut, under the supervision of Jean Peccoud and with Laura Adam as advisor. The team is more thoroughly presented in Our team.

project overview

References

Annexes

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 Gene synthesis technology gives scientists an unparalleled capability to manipulate genomes. Over the past several decades, an entire commercial industry has developed to inexpensively produce genes on a large scale. It is this industry which provides the genes and standardized parts to make synthetic biology, and iGEM, possible.
-Synthetic genomics, like synthetic biology, has the potential to be both a great benefit and a great detriment to public health and national security. A precedence for the dual use of synthetic genomics is the reconstruction of the virus responsible for the pandemic 1918 Spanish Flu in 2005 by researchers at the CDC ([[Team:VT-ENSIMAG/influenza_virus|See more]]). Although this virus's genes were synthesized for legitimate research purposes,  they could have just as easily been used to reconstructed a biological weapon.
+Synthetic genomics, like synthetic biology, has the potential to be both a great benefit and a great detriment to public health and national security. A precedence for the dual use of synthetic genomics is the reconstruction of the virus responsible for the pandemic 1918 Spanish Flu in 2005 by researchers at the CDC ([[Team:VT-ENSIMAG/influenza_virus|See more]]). Although this virus's genes were synthesized for legitimate research purposes,  they could have just as easily been used to reconstructed a biological weapon. Although such engineering is difficult at the moment, advances in this technology over the next decade could make it easier for bioterrorists to harm the Public (Garfinkel et al. 2007). According to a 2004 report by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, its greatest security concern over the coming years is that terrorists will acquire biological agents for use as weapons of mass destruction (NIC, 2004).
+Many genes encoding for or derived from dangerous toxins or pathogens can be freely accessed on the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank (NCBI-GenBank). The ease with which dangerous sequences can be located and synthesized presents novel threats to both public health and national security. To prevent illicit activities by end users of de novo synthesized genes, it is crucial to stop their manufacture at the source: gene synthesis companies. Therefore, effective and efficient screening measures must be developed to identify sequences of concern within a synthesis order.
+The United States government recognizes its responsibility to protect the public and in November, 2009, published a draft guidance for sequence screening. As part of our iGEM 2010 project, we are implementing the draft Government guidance for sequence screening, characterizing its performance, and suggesting improvements. Our findings not only quantify the Government guidance for the first time, but also should help to provide future developers of screening software with the data necessary to develop more robust sequence screening tools.
-The possibility to order for a few hundred dollars, genes coding for deadly toxins or entire genomes of viral pathogens calls for the development of new biosecurity policies.  It is essential that members of the scientific community and industry reduce the risk that individuals with ill intent may exploit the commercial application of nucleic acid synthesis technology to access genetic material derived from or encoding select agents or toxins. To this end, we have implemented a draft Government guidance for sequence screening, characterized its performance, and suggested improvements.
-The rapid development technologies to chemically synthesize long DNA molecules has great potential to be used to generate existing or engineered organisms that could threaten public health. This possibility has been well illustrated by the synthesis of the strain of influenza virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic ([[Team:VT-ENSIMAG/influenza_virus|See more]]). The possibility to order for a few hundred dollars, genes coding for deadly toxins or entire genomes of viral pathogens calls for the development of new biosecurity policies.  To reduce the risk that individuals with ill intent may exploit the commercial application of nucleic acid synthesis technology to access genetic material derived from or encoding select agents or toxins, we are proposing to implement the sequence screening algorithm, characterize its performance, and propose better screening algorithms.
 =Who are we?=

Team:VT-ENSIMAG Biosecurity

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