PREMIUM

Use all the tools of the trade: Building a foundation for the next era of biosecurity

By Steph Batalis, Vikram Venkatram | December 10, 2025

A lab worker prepares to enter a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) lab at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany’s equivalent to the Centers for Disease Control in the United States. BSL-4 labs provide the highest level of containment, for studying the most dangerous pathogens. Image courtesy of Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
PREMIUM

Use all the tools of the trade: Building a foundation for the next era of biosecurity

By Steph Batalis, Vikram Venkatram | December 10, 2025

References

Blacksell, S.D., Dhawan, S., Kusumoto, M. et al. 2023. “The Biosafety Research Road Map: The Search for Evidence to Support Practices in Human and Veterinary Laboratories.” Applied Biosafety. 28 (2). June 5. https://doi.org/10.1089/apb.2022.0040

Bode, L., and Vraga, E. 2021. “The layered, Swiss cheese model for mitigating online misinformation.” May 13. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/premium/2021-05/the-layered-swiss-cheese-model-for-mitigating-online-misinformation/

Carter‌, S.R., Curtis, S., Emerson, C., Gray, J., Haydon, I.C., Hebbeler, A., Qureshi, C., et al. 2024. Community Values, Guiding Principles, and Commitments for the Responsible Development of AI for Protein Design. March 8. https://responsiblebiodesign.ai/

Frontier Model Forum. 2024. Issue Brief: Preliminary Taxonomy of AI-Bio Safety Evaluations. Frontier Model Forum. December 20. https://www.frontiermodelforum.org/updates/issue-brief-preliminary-taxonomy-of-ai-bio-safety-evaluations/.

Gerhard, D. 2024. “Biotechs Bolster Biosecurity to Safeguard the Future of Nucleic Acid Sequencing.” August 22. The Scientist. https://www.the-scientist.com/biotechs-bolster-biosecurity-to-safeguard-the-future-of-nucleic-acid-sequencing-72088.

Gillum, D. 2023. “The Making of a Biosafety Officer.” Issues in Science and Technology. Spring. https://issues.org/making-biosafety-officer-gillum/.

Hendrykes, D., Mazeika, M., and Woodside, T. 2023. An Overview of Catastrophic AI Risks. Center for AI Safety. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.12001

IGSC (International Gene Synthesis Consortium). 2024. IGSC Harmonized Screening Protocol v3.0. September 3. https://genesynthesisconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/IGSC-Harmonized-Screening-Protocol-v3.0-1.pdf.

Kane, A. and Parker. M.T. 2024. “Screening State of Play: The Biosecurity Practices of Synthetic DNA Providers.” Applied Biosafety 29 (2). June 20. https://doi.org/10.1089/apb.2023.0027

King, S.H., Driscoll, C.L., Li, D.B., Guo, D., Merchant, A.T., Brixi, G., Wilkinson, M.E, and Hie, B.L. 2025. “Generative design of novel bacteriophages with genome language models.” bioRxiv. September 17.https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.12.675911v1

Naghavi, M., Vollset, S.E., Ikuta, K.S., Swetschinski, L.R., Gray, A.P., Wool, E.E., Aguilar. G.R. et al. 2024. “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050.” The Lancet 404 (10459):1199 – 1226. September 28. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01867-1/fulltext

NSF (US National Science Foundation). 2025. NSF invests in AI-ready test beds to accelerate U.S. leadership. NSF. August 6. https://www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-invests-ai-ready-test-beds-accelerate-us-leadership

NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology). 2024. Biden-Harris Administration Announces First-Ever Consortium Dedicated to AI Safety. NIST. February 8. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/02/biden-harris-administration-announces-first-ever-consortium-dedicated-ai

NTI (Nuclear Threat Initiative). 2024. “International Bio Funders Compact to Integrate Biosecurity into Life Science Research Funding.” June 20. The Nuclear Threat Initiative. June 20. https://www.nti.org/news/bio-funders-compact-biosecurity-research-funding/.

Together, we make the world safer.

The Bulletin elevates expert voices above the noise. But as an independent nonprofit organization, our operations depend on the support of readers like you. Help us continue to deliver quality journalism that holds leaders accountable. Your support of our work at any level is important. In return, we promise our coverage will be understandable, influential, vigilant, solution-oriented, and fair-minded. Together we can make a difference.

Make your gift now


Keywords: AI–biology convergence, artificial intelligence, biosecurity, biotechnology governance, responsible research, risk mitigation
Topics: Analysis, Biosecurity, Magazine, Special Topics

 

Comments are closed.

Steph Batalis

Steph Batalis is a research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), where she leads biotechnology ... Read More

Vikram Venkatram

Vikram Venkatram is a research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), where he focuses on emerging ... Read More

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

first test of the hydrogen bomb. Eniwetok Atoll, November 1, 1952

1990: The H-Bomb: Who Really Gave Away the Secret?

By Daniel Hirsch, William G. Mathews

missile spiraling out of control during test

Stopping the Clock on catastrophic AI risk

By Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh

Covid response team, WHO, Bangladesh

Introduction: Biosecurity

By Matt Field

garden maze at Scottish estate

Decisions about AI will last decades. Researchers need better frameworks

By Abi Olvera

kids pulling back the hands of the Doomsday Clock

Looming climate doomsday demands creativity, ambition, and societal transformation

By Zanagee Artis

Visitors check out an infinity chamber at the "Futurium" in Berlin, a venue where significant national and international developments in scientific, technical and social research are to be presented and discussed among the government, the scientific community, industry, and society. (Photo credit: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

The recent past and foreseeable future of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: a conversation

By John Mecklin

RELATED POSTS

MC Escher print

“The internet is a giant copying machine”: Interview with Vint Cerf

By Dan Drollette Jr

silhouette of man with planet in background

Who stands behind the words?

By Deb Roy

anti-nuclear waste protest by Taiwan indigenous tribe, in costume

Paradise lost? The framing of nuclear risk and its impact upon the Tao Community of Lanyu Island, Taiwan

By Louie Palmer

a large data center in Northern Virginia encroaches on some upscale suburban homes

The dirty parts of the computing world, revisited

By Nathan Ensmenger

old German monastery seen through window

Three reasons Europe learned to distrust Big Tech before America did

By Enrique Dans

discarded computers on dump

Introduction: What went wrong with the internet—and how do we fix it

By Dan Drollette Jr

Bulletin Daily

Website interface of the prediction market platform Polymarket showing a geopolitical market regarding the US and Iran is seen displayed on a computer screen.

Insiders are betting on war: How prediction markets are becoming a national security threat

By David Szakonyi, Michelle Kendler-Kretsch, Michael Hornsby

aerial view of a power generating station in Texas

Trump EPA rolls back climate rules for power plants

By Liza Gross

Satellite images show covered structures at Hami, Yumen, and Jilantai in China, labeled as suspected missile silo fields and a missile training site, with coordinates and dates listed for each location.

Here’s why China acknowledged its new missile silos in a documentary

By Robert Rust

A control room with empty chairs, large screens showing airplanes, and a radar-like red concentric circle pattern overlaying the image.

Pentagon’s secret plan: Reviving Cold War doctrines to lower the threshold for nuclear war

By Joe Cirincione

Illustration of a person with a cage instead of a head and birds flying out against a yellow background

Rogue AI didn’t breach Hugging Face, human decisions did

By Eryk Salvaggio

VIDEO: Inside an AI-powered lab trying to replace scientists

By Rambo Talabong

September issue: The internet is borked—but we can fix it

By Dan Drollette Jr

A robot hand holding a quill over "We the People" text.

The AI stack’s architecture is a constitution. It’s being written without us

By Allison Stanger