Topics and terms such as biosafety, biosecurity, containment, and contamination are things most of us have heard of and think about at some level, but with the pace of molecular biology moving faster than ever, these are topics with implications that are reaching farther than ever. We’re joined by Dr. Ryan Burnette and Dr. Lauren Richardson from Merrick and company for this episode, and they’re ace communicators that help walk us through the expanding horizon and implications of these topics.

This conversation starts on the basic topics, like what biocontainment is and what’s needed for each of the four levels of biosafety labs, but it quickly moves beyond, shining a light on the security and containment needs for more than just the organisms. We hear about how the data and methods used to do modern molecular biology, as well as the data generated in the experiments, are equally precious and in need of protection and containment. With public health and safety on the line, and an acknowledgement that the pace of science moves faster than that of policy, we get into the idea of who really owns responsibility for protecting data. Your role might be more important than you know, so don’t miss this conversation that will make you pause and think!

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