The Nagoya Protocol, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2010 to provide a transparent legal framework for sharing genetic resources, may impact American research in synthetic biology.
According to a new report from the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, there is significant uncertainty surrounding what sorts of genetic material is covered and when the protocol would go into effect.
Would synthetic DNA or “biobricks” be covered? Would genetic samples collected prior to the ratification of the treaty be covered? Would digital DNA sequences shared over the web be covered?
Read the full, original story here: Will the Nagoya Protocol impact your synthetic biology research?
Additional Resources:
- “Do the benefits of synthetic biology outweigh the risks?” Genetic Literacy Project
- “Humans out-engineer evolution in the age of synthetic biology,” Nautilus
