Dual-Use Research (Biotechnology and Society 2016)

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Contents

Required Reading/Viewing

Download Pre-Discussion Questions (PDF)

Watch video (~7 min) Dual Use Research: A Dialogue (NIH Office of Science Policy)

Choose ONE from among these four sets of dual-use case study readings. The first three are from the (Federation of American Scientists) website (Federation of American Scientists).

  1. Module 2.0 Synthesizing Poliovirus
  2. Module 4.0 Unexpected Results in Virus Research (Mousepox)
  3. Module 7.0 Reconstruction of the 1918 Influenza Virus
  4. Airborne H5N1 flu study
    • Enserink M (2012) Avian influenza. Public at last, H5N1 study offers insight into virus’s possible path to pandemic. Science 336:1494–1497. PMID: 22723387 Read at Science
    • Maher B (2012) Bird-flu research: The biosecurity oversight. Nature 485:431-434. PMID: 22622550 Read at Nature

Czar Assignments

Download Policy Czar Template (MS Word)

  1. Polio Czar
  2. Smallpox Czar
  3. Flu Czar I (Historical)
  4. Flu Czar II (Contemporary)
  • Read the primary scientific paper describing your assigned study from this list.
  1. Wimmer E (2006) The test-tube synthesis of a chemical called poliovirus. The simple synthesis of a virus has far-reaching societal implications. EMBO Rep 7 Spec No:S3–9. PMID: 16819446
  2. Moran TM, Isobe H, Fernandez-Sesma A, Schulman JL (1996) Interleukin-4 causes delayed virus clearance in influenza virus-infected mice. J Virol 70:5230–5. PMID: 8764032
  3. Tumpey TM et al. (2005) Characterization of the reconstructed 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic virus. Science 310:77–80. PMID: 16210530
  4. Herfst S et al. (2012) Airborne transmission of influenza A/H5N1 virus between ferrets. Science 336:1534–41. PMID: 22723413
  • Research the main human virus relevant for your study: Polio, Smallpox, 1918 Spanish flu, or H5N1 avian flu
    • When was the disease prevalent? What danger does it pose in today's world?
  • Find a popular science article or news story on the public response to the research that was published at the time when it occurred.