Calendar/2006-4-18

Title: Berkeley Synthetic Biology Town Hall Meeting
Speaker(s): ,
Time: 3-5pm
Location: Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Building, UC Berkeley campus
Abstract: Over the past few years, synthetic biologists have thought hard about how to improve biosafety and biosecurity. Most of these ideas would require new regulations, laws, or treaties. Some, however, can be implemented at the community level. Day 3 of the upcoming Synthetic Biology 2.0 conference will give us a chance to debate, vote and launch community initiatives. If we can take meaningful action on biosafety and biosecurity, that will be time well spent. For the past three months, UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy has worked to find proposals (a) that can be implemented by community vote, (b) have broad support among the more than two dozen synthetic biologists interviewed for the Berkeley project, and (c) can potentially reduce the already-small risks posed by our discipline. The Berkeley group has identified six possible interventions which they believe fit these criteria. You can download the paper (which will be periodically updated to reflect community input) at http://gspp.berkeley.edu/iths/UC%20White%20Paper.pdf. The next step is to see what the community thinks. Over the next three weeks, we need to decide whether one or more of these proposals deserves a full debate and vote at SB2.0. We urge you to read and think about the attached white paper and contribute to the discussion.
Host: Jay Keasling, ,