Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens Form

Instructions and help about Centre For Biological Threats And Special Pathogens

Microbes are microscopic organisms that we use to bake bread, brew beer, and lately, engineer with synthetic DNA to create new biological systems. In this world of synthetic biology, a microbe is seen as a chassis - or a structural frame to add genes & DNA. It’ll get tested and have its performance improved, so it can hopefully do something useful for the world. Yet this potential to modify living organisms and steer them towards global problems is often met with a dark side. It’s a swing between promise and total peril, and sometimes called “the halfpipe of doom”. To understand why this framing exists, we have to go back to the early 2000s The Human Genome project was nearing the finish line. And scientists had new molecular tools to dream up promising applications. And, a major terrorist attack hit New York City. “There it is the plane went right through the other tower of the World Trade Center. In just a weeks time, we have had four confirmed cases with anthrax all with m