Soleimani Sasani Mahboubeh
Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Medical Engineering, Shahab Danesh University, Qom, Iran.
Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) Instructor, Iran's Passive Defense Organization, Tehran, Iran.
Avicenna J Med Biotechnol. 2024 Oct-Dec;16(4):223-232. doi: 10.18502/ajmb.v16i4.16738.
The age of synthetic biology is ushering in new technologies for the advancement of society, human health, and agriculture. It appears that synthetic biology has integrated engineering paradigms into biological contexts. The combined use of new biotechnology and synthetic biology raises concerns about biosafety, biosecurity, and even cyberbiosecurity. For example, synthetic biology increases the possibility of designing, developing, and deploying pathogenic bioweapons in new and different ways than natural pathogens, as well as manipulating the genome. Evaluation of new technologies and platforms that enable creative or destructive manipulation of biological materials, systems, and organisms is important to identify potential security opportunities and vulnerabilities. This issue poses challenges to the medical community and civilian populations worldwide, creating a growing need to implement and enforce standardized biosafety and biosecurity regulations to protect humans, animals, plants, and the environment. It is critical to establish rules and management guidelines, provide strong leadership at the individual and institutional levels, and utilize established biosafety and biosecurity tools to mitigate the risks associated with synthetic biology. This review addresses the current state of synthetic biology, focusing on the concepts of biosafety, biosecurity, and cyberbiosecurity, as well as enhancing the standardization, regulation, and management of biosecurity in synthetic biology. In this review, the current situation in the Middle East region has been discussed and the challenges and opportunities encountered by synthetic biology researchers in this area is explored. The Middle East region is vulnerable to bioterrorism due to various factors. However, some countries in this strategically important region face challenges as they lack the necessary resources to effectively combat this significant global threat. These attacks are not limited to a specific border or area; they can affect multiple countries or have a global impact.
合成生物学时代正在带来推动社会、人类健康和农业发展的新技术。合成生物学似乎已将工程范式融入生物学领域。新生物技术与合成生物学的结合引发了对生物安全、生物安保乃至网络生物安全的担忧。例如，合成生物学增加了以不同于天然病原体的新方式设计、开发和部署致病性生物武器以及操纵基因组的可能性。评估能够对生物材料、系统和生物体进行创造性或破坏性操纵的新技术和平台，对于识别潜在的安全机遇和漏洞至关重要。这个问题给全球医学界和民众带来了挑战，日益需要实施和执行标准化的生物安全和生物安保法规，以保护人类、动物、植物和环境。制定规则和管理指南、在个人和机构层面提供强有力的领导以及利用既定的生物安全和生物安保工具来降低与合成生物学相关的风险至关重要。本综述阐述了合成生物学的现状，重点关注生物安全、生物安保和网络生物安全的概念，以及加强合成生物学中生物安保的标准化、监管和管理。在本综述中，讨论了中东地区的现状，并探讨了该地区合成生物学研究人员所面临的挑战和机遇。由于各种因素，中东地区容易受到生物恐怖主义的影响。然而，这个具有战略重要性的地区的一些国家面临挑战，因为它们缺乏有效应对这一重大全球威胁所需的资源。这些袭击不限于特定的边界或地区；它们可能影响多个国家或产生全球影响。
