Open sharing of biotechnology research: Transparency versus security


Date:
April 14, 2022
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
As biotechnology advances, the risk of accidental or deliberate
misuse of biological research like viral engineering is
increasing. At the same time, 'open science' practices like
the public sharing of research data and protocols are becoming
widespread. An article examines how open science practices and the
risks of misuse interface and proposes solutions to the problems
identified.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As biotechnology advances, the risk of accidental or deliberate misuse
of biological research like viral engineering is increasing. At the
same time, "open science" practices like the public sharing of research
data and protocols are becoming widespread. An article publishing April
14 in the open access journal PLOS Biology by James Smith and Jonas
Sandbrink at the University of Oxford, UK, examines how open science
practices and the risks of misuse interface and proposes solutions to
the problems identified.


==========================================================================
The authors grapple with a critically important issue that emerged
with the advent of nuclear physics: how the scientific community
should react when two values -- security and transparency -- are
in conflict. They argue that in the context of viral engineering,
open code, data, and materials may increase the risk of the release
of enhanced pathogens. Openly available machine learning models could
reduce the amount of time needed in the laboratory and make pathogen engineering easier.

To mitigate such catastrophic misuse, mechanisms that ensure responsible
access to relevant dangerous research materials need to be explored. In particular, to prevent the misuse of computational tools, controlling
access to software and data may be necessary.

Preprints, which have become widely used during the pandemic, make
preventing the spread of risky information at the publication stage
difficult. In response, the authors argue that oversight needs to take
place earlier in the research lifecycle. Lastly, Smith and Sandbrink
highlight that research preregistration, a practice promoted by the open science community to increase research quality, may harbor an opportunity
to review and mitigate research risks.

"In the face of increasingly accessible methods for the creation of
possible pandemic pathogens, the scientific community needs to take
steps to mitigate catastrophic misuse," say Smith and Sandbrink. "Risk mitigation measures need to be fused into practices developed to ensure
open, high-quality, and reproducible scientific research. To make progress
on this important issue, open science and biosecurity experts need to work together to develop mechanisms to ensure responsible research with maximal societal benefit." The authors propose several of those mechanisms, and
hope that the research will spur innovation in this critically important
yet critically neglected area. They show that science cannot be just open
or closed: there are intermediate states that need to be explored, and difficult trade-offs touching on core scientific values may be needed. "In contrast to the strong narrative towards open science that has emerged in recent years, maximizing societal benefit of scientific work may sometimes
mean preventing, rather than encouraging, its spread," they conclude.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. James Andrew Smith, Jonas B. Sandbrink. Biosecurity in an age
of open
science. PLOS Biology, 2022; 20 (4): e3001600 DOI: 10.1371/
journal.pbio.3001600 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220414143938.htm

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