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Delay, Detect, Defend: Preparing for a Future in which Thousands Can Release New Pandemics

Professor Kevin Esvelt, co-founder of SecureBio, lays out the Delay/Detect/Defend framework in a white paper for the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

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Publications

  1. Indoor air sampling for detection of viral nucleic acids

    Justen et al. (2025)
    – Journal of Aerosol Science

  2. Comparing sampling strategies for early detection of stealth biothreats

    Bradshaw W, Grimm S (2024)
    – Nucleic Acid Observatory

  3. SecureBio Recommendations for AI and Biosecurity Under NIST's E.O. 14110 RFI

    Jeyapragasan, Gopal, Esvelt (2024)

  4. Inferring the sensitivity of wastewater metagenomic sequencing for pathogen early detection

    Grimm et al. (2023)
    – medRxiv

  5. Virus-like DNA tracers for characterizing wastewater-based pathogen monitoring systems

    Gopal et al. (2023)
    – bioRxiv

  6. Will releasing the weights of future large language models grant widespread access to pandemic agents?

    Gopal et al. (2023)
    – arXiv

  7. Securing Civilisation Against Catastrophic Pandemics

    Gopal et al. (2023)
    – Geneva Centre for Security Policy

  8. Assessing the safety of new germicidal far-UVC technologies

    Görlitz et al. (2023)
    – Photochemistry & Photobiology 00: 1-20

  9. Can large language models democratize access to dual-use biotechnology?

    Soice et al. (2023)
    – arXiv

  10. Broadening the Spectrum: The Role of Germicidal UV in ASHRAE’s Control of Infectious Aerosols Standard

    Justen et al. (2023)

  11. Analysis of the first genetic engineering attribution challenge.

    Crook et al. (2022)
    – Nature Communications 13 : 7374

  12. Credible pandemic virus identification will trigger the immediate proliferation of agents as lethal as nuclear devices

    Esvelt (2022)
    – Senate Testimony

  13. Delay, Detect, Defend: Preparing for a Future in which Thousands Can Release New Pandemics

    Esvelt (2022)
    – Geneva Centre for Security Policy

  14. Insidious Insights: Implications of viral vector engineering for pathogen enhancement.

    Sandbrink et al. (2022)
    – Gene Therapy

  15. A Global Nucleic Acid Observatory for Biodefense and Planetary Health

    NAO Consortium (2021)
    – arXiv

  16. A Scalable Solution for Signaling Face Touches to Reduce the Spread of Surface-based Pathogens

    Rojas et al. (2021)

  17. The feasibility of targeted test-trace-isolate for the control of SARS-CoV-2 variants

    Bradshaw et al. (2021)
    – medRxiv

  18. Bidirectional contact tracing could dramatically improve COVID-19 control

    Bradshaw et al. (2021)
    – Nature Communications 12 : 232

  19. A machine learning toolkit for genetic engineering attribution to facilitate biosecurity

    Alley et al. (2020)
    – Nature Communications 11 : 6293

  20. Cryptographic Aspects of DNA Screening

    Baum et al. (2020)

  21. Random adversarial threshold search enables specific, secure, and automated DNA synthesis screening

    Gretton et al. (2020)

  22. Inoculating science against potential pandemics and information hazards

    Esvelt (2018)
    – PLOS Pathogens 14 : e1007286

  23. Calls for Caution in Genome Engineering Should Be a Model for Similar Dialogue on Pandemic Pathogen Research

    Lipsitch et al. (2015)
    – Ann. Intern. Med. 163 : 790-791

Other media

  1. It shouldn’t be easy to buy synthetic DNA fragments to recreate the 1918 flu virus

    STAT News (2024)

  2. Essential Workers Need Essential Protection

    The Latecomer (2024)

  3. Brussels should know AI-assisted bioterrorism is a risk worth considering

    EuroNews (2023)

  4. Kevin Esvelt on cults that want to kill everyone, stealth vs wildfire pandemics, and how he felt inventing gene drives

    80,000 Hours (2023)

  5. How AI could spark the next pandemic

    Vox (2023)

  6. Another AI threat: The next pandemic

    Axios (2023)

  7. Could chatbots help devise the next pandemic virus?

    Science (2023)

  8. Kevin Esvelt: Pandemics, Gene Drives, Existential Threats

    Xapiens at MIT (2023)

  9. Emerging Technologies: What Opportunities for International Security

    Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) (2023)

  10. Kevin Esvelt | Safeguarding exponential biology

    Frontiers Forum Live (2023)

  11. Experts Debate the Risks of Made-to-Order DNA

    Undark (2022)

  12. How to make Covid the last pandemic

    Vox (2022)

  13. Kevin Esvelt wants to make the world safe from — and for — biotechnology

    Vox (2022)

  14. How a deliberate pandemic could crush societies and what to do about it

    Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (2022)

  15. How to Prevent the Next Pandemic

    Asterisk (2022)

  16. Kevin Esvelt and Jonas Sandbrink on Risks from Biological Research

    Hear This Idea (2022)

  17. Contact tracing: So promising. So invasive.

    Should This Exist? (2022)

  18. Recipes for Future Plagues

    After On Podcast (2022)

  19. Manipulating viruses and risking pandemics is too dangerous. It’s time to stop.

    Washington Post (2021)