Leading experts have been brought together to discuss the next generation of biosecurity infrastructure for global security and health resilience.
Academic, government, and industry leaders from Imperial and the Boston-area assembled to discuss how to match the UK and USA’s world-leading positions in biotechnology and engineering biology with equally sophisticated biosecurity infrastructure.
Hosted by the British Consul General to New England, David Clay MBE, the discussion built on the recent UK-USA Joint Statement on Biological Security and the US-UK technology partnership, which includes AI for biotechnology.
Imperial’s President, Professor Hugh Brady, said: “Advances in biotechnology offer tremendous opportunities for health, security, and prosperity, but they also bring complex risks. By working together across borders and sectors, the UK and US can ensure that our world-leading science strengthens resilience and safeguards societies. Our ongoing engagement at forums such as the United Nations General Assembly this week demonstrates Imperial’s commitment to multilateral collaboration, and today’s roundtable is an opportunity to explore how we can translate this leadership into practical, collaborative solutions in biosecurity.”
British Consul General to New England, David Clay MBE, said: “The US and UK share a deep commitment to using advances in biotechnology and engineering biology for the benefit of global health and security. It was a pleasure to co-host with Imperial College London this roundtable on how our countries can cooperate to develop our biosecurity infrastructure. It brought together leading scientists, business leaders and policy thinkers from Boston’s cutting-edge life sciences ecosystem and underlined the importance of close US-UK private and public sector collaboration to find solutions.”
The roundtable brought together academic, government, and industry leaders from over 20 organisations to explore UK-US collaboration opportunities in biosecurity.
Biology is set to define the next era of security and prosperity. From emerging infectious diseases and environmental threats to the dual-use potential of biotechnology advances, comprehensive biosecurity challenges span human, animal, and environmental health.
Participants recognised that we are entering a defining biological era where biotechnology converges with AI. This demands unified response frameworks for monitoring biological threats and building sophisticated detection systems. The discussion emphasised establishing shared regulatory frameworks across industry, academia, and government, noting that current stakeholders lack a unified vision for addressing natural and synthetic security threats.
The UK's recent largest-ever national pandemic response exercise was cited as a model for cross-border collaboration, with potential to pilot joint exercises testing coordinated international action during biological emergencies.
Discussion also focused on the urgent need for a comprehensive review of global health security funding and capacity. Participants highlighted concerns about lost biosecurity capacity in the current environment and the need for a thorough stocktake of global health security infrastructure to identify critical gaps.
This article was first published on 26 September by Imperial College London.
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