Will Open Source Biotechnology Benefit the Bottom Billion?

Description

Jenny Molloy (OpenPlant and Synthetic Biology Strategic Research Initiative)
Respondent: Lalitha Sundaram (Department of Pathology)

These are some of the issues Jenny will address:

Openness has developed as a paradigm and movement in fields like government and science over the last decade, building on successes of open source models in software. Biotechnology is historically a sector where proprietary technologies and multinational corporations have dominated, but there is a growing interest in opening up the tools and technologies necessary to develop biotechnological solutions in agriculture, health, bioremediation and more. This is particularly true in the emerging field of synthetic biology, which takes an engineering approach to biological innovation and has already delivered yeast producing anti-malarial compounds, bacterial arsenic biosensors and sterile mosquitoes. What does openness mean in synthetic biology and is it achievable from the lab to the field? Will open really enable equal access and democratisation of biotechnology to solve local problems or will the same power structures be maintained?

 

 

 

Open to all.  No registration required
Part of the Science non Fiction and the Bottom Billion: Envolving Fairer Frameworks for the Future Research Group, series

Administrative assistance: gradfac@crassh.cam.ac.uk