Ginkgo Biosecurity

I'm looking forward to speaking at #TXBiomedGHS on the topic of re-emerging #infectious #diseases that pose new and persistent threats. Hope to see you in person in #SATX or virtually! https://lnkd.in/gQmGHCtS

As Influenza H5 continues to impact the dairy and poultry industries, Ginkgo Biosecurity stands ready to leverage our biosecurity industry expertise and solutions to turbocharge efforts to control and eradicate this biothreat. To learn more about our offerings DM me or email https://lnkd.in/esVJQhKQ

The European Union’s RApid Next Generation Sequencing for Effective Medical Response (RANGER) offers a transformational opportunity in ‘agnostic diagnostics’ to sequence and identify any respiratory pathogen, whether emergent or engineered at point-of-care. It’s a visionary collaboration between the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Ginkgo Biosecurity is proud to be leading the project. #biosecurity #eu #nato #resilience

Critical biosecurity reporting by Apoorva Mandavilli at The New York Times: "The U.S.D.A.’s program to test bulk milk began in December — nearly a year after the outbreak began — and still does not include Idaho. Engaging outside companies may help the program move faster. Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc., a company that worked with federal agencies during the Covid pandemic, already works with a partner that assesses roughly half the nation’s commercial milk supply for bacteria, antibiotics and other substances. Adding H5N1 to the list would be straightforward, so “why wouldn’t we just add assays into this infrastructure that we already have?” said Matthew F. McKnight, a manager at the company’s biosecurity division."

Five Observations on Biosecurity for 2025 Publishing this just before the inauguration because the real story of 2025 in our world is how the Trump Administration 2.0 will approach the most powerful force on this planet: biology. In 2025, biosecurity will evolve from a specialized concern to a central issue at the intersection of politics, health, and national defense. The convergence of technological advancements, geopolitical shifts, and recent outbreaks has underscored the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to address biological threats, but legacy feelings about COVID-19 origins and the role of global governance bring the heat up on the conversation. Here are some predictions - as always, strong opinions, loosely held - bolstered by my observations, all about highlight key areas where biosecurity policy will evolve:

The Marburg outbreak in Rwanda is officially over. This remarkable milestone demonstrates the power of Rwanda’s integrative approach to public health and the power of effective collaboration, across government as well as health and scientific partners worldwide.The lessons learned from this experience will be invaluable for the future of public health responses in Rwanda and beyond, setting the stage for stronger biosecurity globally.In this hyperconnected modern world, where pathogens can reach almost anywhere quickly, we need exactly this kind of coordinated response. Ginkgo Biosecurity is proud to have played a part in the 100 Days Mission exercise that helped support the groundwork for aspects of this response.It's an honor to work with so many capable and dedicated partners, and to build towards a future in which our preparation and coordination means that outbreaks don't even have a fighting chance.

I'm grateful to hear Rwanda's Marburg response was successful! I'm looking forward to building on this momentum alongside our partners to continue enabling the #100DaysMission pilot in Rwanda.

I was honored to participate recently in the Workshop on Pandemic Risk Assessment and Its Intersection with Climate Change in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I presented in the session on "New Research and New Methods" about techniques we are using to estimate epidemic and pandemic risk. Our discussion covered how to incorporate extreme events modeling, computational epidemiology, big data, artificial intelligence, and social science to better quantify risk and plan for future epidemics and pandemics. Many thanks to: Key Organizers - Cecilia Mundaca Shah, MD, DrPH, Ben Oppenheim, Colin J. Carlson Workshop Chairs - Victor Dzau and Lourdes Oliveira Hosts - United Nations Foundation, FIOCRUZ - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, and the National Academy of Medicine, and Sponsors - PAX sapiens and Skoll Foundation!

Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Ministry of Health Rwanda, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), IQVIA on the #100DaysMission pilot in Rwanda - a collaboration to connect disease surveillance to countermeasure development. Less than two weeks after the Marburg outbreak was declared in Rwanda, a clinical trial of the Sabin Vaccine Institute's experimental Marburg vaccine began. I am proud to contribute to the work enabling the 100 Days Mission pilot in Rwanda, and to a historic response enabled by national leadership in Rwanda and global partnership. Minister Sabin Nsanzimana’s and CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett reflect here: https://lnkd.in/esUrZxMC Our work continues informed by the lessons learned! #100DaysMission in action - Watch this space!

California's State of Emergency proclamation is an important recognition of the need to respond definitively to the growing threat posed by H5N1. Proactive testing and sequencing just makes sense – heartland security is an issue that has consequences for all of us, and everyone should support proactive measures against threats like this. All of us across America depend on our farmers and food infrastructure every day, and they should be able to depend on us. State and national governments can provide critical support, empowering America's biosecurity industrial base to snap in safeguards that keep us all informed. Our response needs to get smarter: testing alone will mean we are catching up to the spread of the disease. Deploying genomic surveillance, the sequencing of milk samples (especially those that test positive) will allow us to detect emerging variants, develop comprehensive testing panels, and keep on pace with the biology at play here. Thankfully, the same infrastructure we built to support our COVID response can be deployed against bird flu. We stand ready, alongside our partners, including labs that test roughly half of the US milk supply, to support these biosecurity efforts.