Audio Transcript

Ms. Ballew: Synthetic biology is an emerging technology in which engineering principles are applied to biology.

Mr. You: “What is the state of the art in synthetic biology? Can we identify some of the risks and challenges that are involved?”

Ms. Ballew: To address these questions, Supervisory Special Agent Edward You says the FBI works with members of academia, industry, amateur biologists…

Mr. You: “And also state and local law enforcement and public health, coming to an understanding of, from their perspective, what are the challenges, what are the issues.”

Ms. Ballew: One issue is possible vulnerabilities.

Mr. You: “As things get cheaper and easier to do, now you have the challenge of addressing the potential that there may be a group or individual that will exploit that ability to do harm.”

Ms. Ballew: The joint partnerships look for solutions that make sense to security and research communities.

Mr. You: “By working together, how do we then come up with ways to mitigate and manage these issues and risks in a way that addresses safety and security but does not have a negative impact on their research endeavors?”

Ms. Ballew: I ’m Denise Ballew of the Bureau and that’s what’s happening at the “FBI, This Week.”