Tessa Alexanian
Tessa Alexanian is the Technical Lead for the Common Mechanism, an international baseline for nucleic acid synthesis screening. Her previous work has focused on modular lab automation, assessing dual-use risks in synthetic biology projects, bioweapons convention compliance, and creating cultures of responsibility. Tessa wrangled robots to do bioengineering for four years at Zymergen, served for two years at the iGEM Competition’s Safety and Security officer, and has collaborated with organizations including Open Philanthropy, RAND, and the Council on Strategic Risks. She was a 2023 Council on Strategic Risks Fellow for Ending Bioweapons, a 2022 ELBI fellow, 2020 Foresight Fellow, and 2017 iGEM BWC delegate.
IBBIS
The Biological "Zero-Day" that Catalyzed a New Biosecurity Community
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As synthetic biology and AI capabilities continue to expand and combine, biosecurity threats are becoming both more widespread and more difficult to mitigate. This panel will discuss these challenges in the context of a recent positive case study, in which multiple organizations collaborated to address an AI-based biological "zero day" threat using practices adapted from cybersecurity. We will further discuss how this collaboration has since matured into a larger effort to develop international standards for nucleic acid biosecurity screening, and close with remarks on emerging challenges in biosecurity.
