Abstract
Gene editing tools are in the midst of a period of unusually rapid change, with movement from zinc fingers and TALENs to CRISPR and base editing. In this lecture, the speaker will focus on novel applications made possible by advances in gene editing, with emphasis on next generation applications such as gene drives and xeno-transplantation that do not fit easily within existing regulatory frames. It will then turn to how biological engineers, civil society, regulators and educators including iGEM are seeking to mitigate risks.
About the speaker
Prof Kenneth Oye is a Professor of Political Science and Data, Systems and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He currently serves as Director of the Program on Emerging Technologies, with faculty research affiliations in the Synthetic Biology Center, the Center for Biomedical Innovation and the Internet Policy Research Initiative. He also chairs the DARPA-Broad Institute Foundry safety committee and co-chairs the iGEM Safety Committee. Before joining the MIT, he served on the faculties of Harvard University, the University of California, Princeton University and Swarthmore College. He holds a BA with Highest Honors in Economics and Political Science from Swarthmore College and a PhD in Political Science with the Chase Dissertation Prize from Harvard University.
Prof Oye’s research and teaching link the fields of technology policy and international relations. His works in international relations includes Cooperation under Anarchy, Economic Discrimination and Political Exchange and four books on American foreign policy. In the last decade, he has worked on adaptive regulation of rapidly changing technologies, with emphasis on synthetic biology and pharmaceuticals. His works in synthetic biology include: “Regulating Gene Drives” (Science 2014); “Regulate Home Brew Opiates” (Nature 2015); “iGEM as a Testbed for Proactive and Adaptive Risk Management,” (ACS Synthetic Biology 2014) and “Shaping Ecological Risk Research for Synthetic Biology.” (Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2014). His works on biomedical innovation have appeared in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, with papers treating adaptive licensing (2013, 2014), E2E trials (2014) and enhanced data utilization and integration (2016).
Prof Oye has served as an invited expert on technology policy for the UN Biological Weapons Convention, the World Health Organization, the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and the US National Academy of Sciences. His research has been funded by grants from the MacArthur Foundation, NSF IGERT, NSF Molecular and Cellular Biology, SynBERC, the Center for Global Partnership, the New Energy Development Organization and the Alliance for Global Sustainability.
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