Our project and the biosecurity community

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the need for nations to enhance their abilities to prevent, detect, and respond to all manner of biological threats, whether natural, accidental or deliberate. In this context, the biosecurity community also needs new ways to share and readily access the best available resources. Biosecurity Central provides a curated set of resources and tools applicable across the spectrum of biosecurity organized by topic and use case. 

Canada’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program (WTRP), in support of the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, sponsored the Biosecurity Central effort, with leadership of the effort provided by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security assembled a group of experts who provided their recommendations for items to include in the library. The work is supported by an Advisory Committee of global experts who regularly engage on topics related to the initiative and review potential new resources for inclusion in the library. We thank the biosecurity professionals who generously shared their time and expertise to support development of Biosecurity Central.

We welcome questions or feedback on Biosecurity Central. You may contact our team by email at biosecuritycentral@georgetown.edu.

To review the methods for this project, download our documentation.

Biosecurity initiatives

Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (the Global Partnership)

The Global Partnership is a G7-led, 31-member international initiative aimed at preventing the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons and related materials. The partnership has a Biological Security Working Group that aims to prevent the deliberate use of biological agents and to address unique biological security and safety challenges around the world.

Mérieux Foundation GABRIEL network

The GABRIEL network aims is a research network that promotes the exchange of information, experience and skills to help establish surveillance programs, clinical research and epidemiological studies that improve the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The network helps facilitate trainings and has organized 50 sessions to train 700 scientists, in addition to having publicly available e-learning courses.

Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa

The Signature Intiative is an effort of the Global Partnership that works closely with African partners, such as the Africa CDC, to align their activities to help reduce bio-threats in the region.

Biosecurity centers of excellence

Canada Centre for Biosecurity

The Canadian Centre for Biosecurity has 4 offices that focus on biosecurity: 1. Office of Biosafety Programs and Planning (OBPP), 2. Office of Biosafety and Biocontainment Operations (OBBO) , 3. Office of Pathogen Security (OPS), 4. Office of Stakeholder Engagement and Regulatory Affairs (OSERA). The Center, in collaboration with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada, maintains a suite of biosafety and biosecurity resources.

Denmark Center for Biosecurity and Biopreparedness

The Denmark Center for Biosecurity and Biopreparedness (CBB) is the national biosecurity authority that is charged with maintaining the capacity to respond to biological incidents, whether they are of accidental or malicious origin. CBB also published a book called "An Efficient and Practical Approach to Biosecurity" that covers setting up a biosecurity system, biosecurity in practice, and thorny biosecurity challenges, and is meant to be a guide for other countries.

Netherlands Biosecurity Office

The Netherlands Biosecurity Office is a national information center for the government and organizations that work with high-risk biological materials. The Office published a Biosecurity toolkit, that ranges from informative video presentations on biosecurity, to self-assessment guides on biosecurity and dual use, to checklists and rules for biosafety.

Biosecurity assistance providers

Assistance Support Initiative Database

The Assistance Support Initiative helps States achieve compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540, which obligates countries to combat the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, their means of delivery, and illicit trafficking in related materials within or across their borders. The Initiative maintains a database of projects and programs available to help countries achieve compliance with those requirements.

IFBA Global Mentorship Program

The IFBA Global Mentorship Program is a worldwide initiative to support and sustain the international biosafety and biosecurity community. Mentor and Mentee pairs are matched based on region and professional discipline to encourage locally relevant professional guidance. Mentor and Mentee pairs are brought together to discuss regional and global issues and opportunities pertaining to biosafety, biosecurity, and biorisk management. Mentees receive guidance in obtaining IFBA Professional Certifications and other career developing skills.

Appendix: other resources

European Biosecurity Regulators Forum (EBRF) Biosecurity Resource Toolbox

This toolbox contains information and links to 60 freely accessible resources, which are sorted by theme. The toolbox includes biosecurity assessment tools, guidelines, online training courses and best practices. These resources selected by an expert committee through the European Biosecurity Regulators Forum (EBRF), a European workgroup with the purpose to strengthen European biosecurity.

SecBio

SecBio is digital library for national legislation related to biosafety and biosecurity. The platform provides a deep dive on a subset of countries laws and norms, and is currently designed to be used by only by government institutions.

World Animal Health Information System

WAHIS is a database through which information on the animal health situation worldwide is reported and disseminated throughout the world. The early warning system is designed to inform the international community through alert messages (immediate notifications and follow-up reports) on relevant animal disease events for WOAH-listed diseases and emerging diseases.

Youth Declaration on Biosecurity

The Youth Declaration on Biosecurity proposes a list of key recommendations from the next generation of leaders to the current Biological Weapons Convention community. The declaration is a result of the Youth for Biosecurity Initiative from the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and is still open for endorsements.