An initial database of bioengineered products was developed by the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and launched in 2015. This database became an input into the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) study on Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology. The study committee, of which we were members, released a report in March 2017. During the 9-month study period, NASEM staff both added items and expanded the categorization schema based on discussions with the committee members and outside stakeholders. In the fall of 2017, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) took over the database from the NASEM for further development as the primary foundation for the horizon scanning website.
Thanks go to ELI Research Associate Emmett McKinney for his work to develop and populate the database. We are also indebted to Karen Ingram for her graphics and to Ryan Cramer for the development of the website and content management system. We received many constructive comments from our colleagues at the EPA, FDA, USDA, State Department, and US Army, all members of the U.S. government’s Biotechnology Working Group. Most importantly, this project would not have happened without the support of Sid Abel, Assistant Deputy Administrator of the Animal and Plant Inspection Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This is a work in progress and it is our expectation that it will continue to evolve as more content and functionalities are added. We hope others will contribute to this effort as it moves forward.
September 2018
Dave Rejeski, Washington DC
Mary Maxon, PhD, Berkeley CA
