You could look into genetic engineering attribution! There were a bunch of EA authors on the The biosecurity benefits of genetic engineering attribution, a useful background paper that came out two weeks ago. altLabs just finished running a data science contest on this problem using AddGene data. They got great results on that contest, so I think now the problem is around how to extend it beyond the AddGene database, how to
There’s a ton of interesting work happening in metagenomics for infectious disease surveillance and modelling. I’m no expert in this, but Nextstrain and IDSeq both seem like useful projects.
You could also look into the projects being pursued under IARPA’s FunGCAT (can we tell if DNA encodes for something dangerous) and FELIX (can we detect whether an organism was engineered) programs, and look for interesting ways to complement and build upon those projects / publications?
You might also be interested in modelling for environmental use of gene editing? This is maybe more into evolutionary biology, but I’m thinking of some of the groups funding under DARPA’s Safe Genes program and people working on reversible or limited-range gene drives.
I have some biosecurity-related ideas:
You could look into genetic engineering attribution! There were a bunch of EA authors on the The biosecurity benefits of genetic engineering attribution, a useful background paper that came out two weeks ago. altLabs just finished running a data science contest on this problem using AddGene data. They got great results on that contest, so I think now the problem is around how to extend it beyond the AddGene database, how to
There’s a ton of interesting work happening in metagenomics for infectious disease surveillance and modelling. I’m no expert in this, but Nextstrain and IDSeq both seem like useful projects.
You could also look into the projects being pursued under IARPA’s FunGCAT (can we tell if DNA encodes for something dangerous) and FELIX (can we detect whether an organism was engineered) programs, and look for interesting ways to complement and build upon those projects / publications?
A few more thoughts:
Improving sequence screening tools for gene synthesis providers. NTI is working on a common mechanism to prevent illicit gene synthesis and I think they recently hired a comp bio consultant on that project.
You might also be interested in modelling for environmental use of gene editing? This is maybe more into evolutionary biology, but I’m thinking of some of the groups funding under DARPA’s Safe Genes program and people working on reversible or limited-range gene drives.