Illustrative: two backbones and their base pairs, the major and minor grooves, a reading frame travelling along the strand

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Health and Society

Global Health Security

Biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology

Biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology: foundations and practice

This area covers biotechnology and its oversight: biosafety and biosecurity in laboratories, dual-use research, synthetic biology, biomanufacturing, diagnostics and agricultural biotechnology.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
In authoring
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Provides a reference for governing neural data and consumer neurotechnology, which are largely unregulated outside medicine. UNESCO, Ethics of neurotechnology: UNESCO adopts the first global standard in the cutting-edge technology, 5 November 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Define biosafety and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain laboratory biosafety and biosecurity and dual-use research oversight with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against synthetic biology governance, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Laboratory biosafety and biosecurity
    • Laboratory biosafety and biosecurity
    • Dual-use research oversight
    • Synthetic biology governance
  2. Biomanufacturing risk
    • Biomanufacturing risk
    • Diagnostics and medical countermeasures
    • Agricultural biotechnology
  3. Biological threat preparedness
    • Biological threat preparedness
    • Ethics and responsible research
    • Neurotechnology and neural data
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • Biosecurity governance is a pipeline with measurable stages: the share of gene synthesis orders that reach a provider who screens, the share of screened orders flagged for human review, and the number of reviews an oversight body can complete in a year; a gap at any stage is a number, and the decision is where to spend to close it.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-T10 Biotechnology and life sciences risk
  • NRS-H45 Hazard family: Systemic biological risks
  • NRS-H101 Hazard family: Biotechnology and synthetic biology
  • NRS-M16 Method fabric: Health and epidemiology

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action
  • NRS-C8 Evidence, uncertainty and provenance

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. UNESCO, Ethics of neurotechnology: UNESCO adopts the first global standard in the cutting-edge technology, 5 November 2025
  2. World Health Organization, Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences, 2022
  3. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Biodefense in the age of synthetic biology, 2018
  4. National Research Council, Biotechnology research in an age of terrorism, 2004
02Live map

Environmental exposure in India

Haze, nitrogen dioxide, dust, surface heat by day and night, and where people live, over India.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Environmental exposure

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Environmental exposure, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
  • Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (12 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
  • Surface dust PM2.5, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
  • Land surface temperature, night, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

Frontier course · L3 advanced, programme courses and standards

Biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Provides a reference for governing neural data and consumer neurotechnology, which are largely unregulated outside medicine. UNESCO, Ethics of neurotechnology: UNESCO adopts the first global standard in the cutting-edge technology, 5 November 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce UNESCO adopts first global standard on neurotechnology ethics on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. UNESCO adopts first global standard on neurotechnology ethics
    • UNESCO member states adopted a Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology addressing mental privacy, explicit consent, non-therapeutic use with children and workplace monitoring; it is non-binding and relies on national implementation.
    • Provides a reference for governing neural data and consumer neurotechnology, which are largely unregulated outside medicine.
    • UNESCO, 5 November 2025
  2. US executive order pauses federally funded dangerous gain-of-function research
    • Executive Order 14292 suspends federally funded dangerous gain-of-function research pending a new policy, ends such funding in countries of concern, and orders revised oversight and nucleic acid synthesis screening rules.
    • Reshapes dual-use research oversight, institutional reporting and enforcement terms for research organisations.
    • The White House, 5 May 2025
  3. Scientists warn against creating mirror bacteria
    • Thirty-eight scientists in nine countries argued in Science, with a detailed technical report, that mirror bacteria could evade immune and ecological controls and that research aimed at creating them should not proceed without compelling evidence of safety.
    • Shows a proactive, community-led approach to a potential dual-use risk before the capability exists.
    • Science, 12 December 2024
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  5. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • AI-assisted diagnostics, genomic surveillance and digital health.
    • Ransomware in hospitals, AI medical device risk, biosecurity and neurotechnology.

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-T10 Biotechnology and life sciences risk
  • NRS-H45 Hazard family: Systemic biological risks
  • NRS-H101 Hazard family: Biotechnology and synthetic biology
  • NRS-M16 Method fabric: Health and epidemiology

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action
  • NRS-C8 Evidence, uncertainty and provenance

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 5 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. UNESCO, Ethics of neurotechnology: UNESCO adopts the first global standard in the cutting-edge technology, 5 November 2025
  2. The White House, Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research, 5 May 2025
  3. Science, Confronting risks of mirror life, 12 December 2024
  4. World Health Organization, Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences, 2022
  5. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Biodefense in the age of synthetic biology, 2018
  6. National Research Council, Biotechnology research in an age of terrorism, 2004
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Biosafety

Practices and controls that prevent unintended exposure to or release of biological agents.

Term

Biosecurity

Measures that prevent the loss, theft or misuse of biological agents and knowledge.

Term

Dual-use research of concern

Life sciences research that could be misapplied to cause harm.

Term

Medical countermeasure

A vaccine, therapeutic or diagnostic used against a health threat.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Related

Around Biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology: courses

Risk Academy

Study biotechnology, biosecurity and neurotechnology with us, or teach it

Every course is free and open. Institutions and experts can co-teach, host a cohort, contribute a lab or review a course before it opens.

Browse the course catalogue Partner with the Academy
Risk Academy

Courses · practice · credentials

Not for profit

Our articles, maps and twins are free to read and free to republish. Readers and partners keep it that way.

Support our work

Who funds us

Risk Academy is a not-for-profit institution. To ask who funds a piece of work, use the funding questions form.

Independence

Editors and the expert reviewers named on each article decide what we publish. Funders and partners do not review or approve articles before publication.

Corrections policy

Licence

Articles: CC BY 4.0. Figures, maps, twins and data: CC BY 4.0. Other uses: ask through the permissions form.

Privacy choices