Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) | bio hosted two events during the 2019 Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of States Parties in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this month.
A panel of international biosecurity experts was the focus of the first event. The experts discussed efforts to reduce deliberate and accidental biological risks.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Union informed the audience about a continent-wide effort, supported by NTI, that highlights specific biosecurity and biosafety targets.
Experts discussed two new pilot projects launched under NTI | bio’s Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction Initiative during the second event. The focus of the projects is to develop a “seal of approval” for researchers and practitioners who adhere to international peer-based biosecurity standards for life science research and to improve the process for assessing the risks and benefits of life science research.
During the second event, the winners of the NTI-sponsored 2018 and 2019 Next Generation for Biosecurity Competitions made presentations. The competition promotes the enhancement of biosecurity and the reduction of catastrophic biological risks.
Winners presented proposals for a new open-access biosecurity eLearning platform and for a virtual online community to facilitate biosecurity and biosafety discourse across the life sciences.