SynBioBeta Speaker
Kirsten Engel
SecureDNA
Dir. Strat. Partnerships & Client Rel.
Kirsten Engel leads global strategic partnerships and clientengagement for the SecureDNA Foundation, a Swissnonprofit dedicated to safeguarding biotechnology throughfree, privacy-preserving DNA synthesis screening.SecureDNA provides free, ultra-fast, privacy-preservingDNA synthesis screening to detect regulated, controlled, orhazardous sequences, and is the only system that alsoscreens millions of predicted functional variants to preventevasion. The platform has been adopted by providersacross North America, Europe, and Asia, and uniquelycombines ultra-sensitive detection (down to 30 base pairs)with flexible integration for both commercial and benchtopsynthesis.In addition to supporting synthesis providers and benchtop manufacturers, Kirsten represents SecureDNA in international policy discussions and working groups, helping shape emerging best practices for responsible DNA synthesis oversight. She isparticularly focused on building international collaboration to close global screening gaps and ensure equitable access to security infrastructure. Kirsten’s work builds on a background spanning business development, international marketing and engagement, nonprofit partnerships, and strategic communications. AtSecureDNA, she is advancing the mission of making DNA synthesis both safe and accessible worldwide, with a vision of preventing misuse while enabling legitimate research to thrive.
SynBioBeta 2026 Tickets are Live
Confirmed Speakers
Sessions Featuring
Kirsten
This Year
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Business of Biology
Synthesis Screening in the Age of Powerful AI
As AI reshapes what's possible in biology, biosecurity needs to keep up. Nucleic acid synthesis screening, which checks what's being ordered and by whom, is one of the field's most important lines of defense. But as AI capabilities advance, the screening infrastructure needs to evolve with them. This panel brings together leaders from the Sequence Biosecurity Risk Consortium, Fourth Eon Bio, SecureDNA, and BioTrust to discuss how sequence and customer screening are adapting to a new threat landscape.
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Business of Biology
Synthesis Screening in the Age of Powerful AI
As AI reshapes what's possible in biology, biosecurity needs to keep up. Nucleic acid synthesis screening, which checks what's being ordered and by whom, is one of the field's most important lines of defense. But as AI capabilities advance, the screening infrastructure needs to evolve with them. This panel brings together leaders from the Sequence Biosecurity Risk Consortium, Fourth Eon Bio, SecureDNA, and BioTrust to discuss how sequence and customer screening are adapting to a new threat landscape.
Session lineup still growing
Featuring
Speaker Coming Soon
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Human Health
From Cells to Patients: Solving the Scale Mismatch in Virtual Biology
Drug discovery often measures biology at the cell level while interventions work at the tissue, organ, or whole-patient scale. This mismatch can make accurate cell-level predictions irrelevant in the clinic. This session dives into strategies to bridge that gap: multiscale modeling that nests single-cell dynamics within organ-level simulations, spatial transcriptomics that preserve context, and surrogate models that translate cell-level outputs into clinical biomarkers. Speakers will ask: how do we ensure virtual biology reflects not just what cells do in isolation, but how biology behaves in the real complexity of patients?
Featuring
Speaker Coming Soon
