What this project is

This is a critical time for adoption of effective synthesis screening tools. New mandates for enhanced screening under the US framework come online in October 2026; California AB1864, if it passes, will introduce new requirements in January 2027; and the EU Biotech Act will also likely introduce screening requirements in early 2027. This funding will help IBBIS to accelerate adoption of screening in medium-to-large businesses based in international markets that sell to the US and EU, that other screening tools have limited access to (e.g. in China, India, South Korea and Brazil). This is because compared to other tools, IBBIS maintains a free, open-source screening tool, resources for customer screening, and has already established connections to key organisations and individuals based in these countries, as well as other tool providers such as SecureDNA and IBBIS. Our tool is already in use by providers in China, the US, and EU, but building on the momentum from recent software performance updates, IBBIS is ready for a larger outreach campaign to accelerate adoption during this regulatory window.

Theory of Impact

A recent field strategy guide for synthesis screening identified voluntary adoption of screening as one of the key initiatives to secure the DNA supply chain, which it also identified as the most critical chokepoint for engineering a pandemic-capable pathogen, a capability that is currently diffusing into more hands as AIs become significantly more bio-capable. Voluntary adoption of screening helps to pave the way for regulatory incentives and mandates for screening, and helps to preserve the strategic ambiguity necessary for effective deterrences.

Quoting the guide, "if providers screen even in countries without mandates (as they do today), a bad actor can’t safely assume any given provider won’t screen." If synthesis screening will be effective at preventing engineered pandemics, it needs to be significantly more widely-adopted than it is at present. The goal is by 2030 >80% of companies conduct high-quality screening, with modelling funded by Sentinel Bio suggesting this threshold would significantly reduce engineered pandemic risk by raising barriers for non-state actors. Coverage of China and India, identified by IBBIS’s Global Synthesis Map as the countries with the second- and fourth-largest number of custom synthesis companies, is necessary to reach that threshold.

There are currently fewer than 10 people in the world working full-time on direct outreach to companies to encourage them to adopt screening tools, which feels like an oversight given how critical this safeguard is. This grant will directly support the work of our outreach-focused contractor.

How the money will be spent

The grant will support our extending a full-time offer to a promising Partnerships and Adoption Lead with direct experience convincing companies to adopt international standards despite commercial cost, and will support the new hire's salary and travel. The ideal amount would allow us to guarantee this hire joining for a full year and support investment in digital marketing tools to reach outreach objectives. (Note that I have also raised the ideal amount since my drafting of the grantmaking.ai application, as I consulted with colleagues who suggested I had underestimated operational overhead and travel budget.)

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

I am a Technical Lead at IBBIS, the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science, a Swiss foundation launched in 2024 with the mission to safeguarding modern bioscience and biotechnology so it can advance and flourish safely and responsibly. Our screening tool, commec, has already been adopted by synthesis companies in the US, EU, and China, but we've had no team member working full-time on voluntary adoption of screening tools. This grant will support extending a full-time offer to Lehlohonolo Diale, who previously worked with the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, leading outreach to paint manufacturers.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Success here is measured by the number of synthesis providers who were not previously screening, or were screening using ad-hoc/in-house tools that had not been tested against international consensus (as measured by SBRC test sets), that adopt rigorous screening that meets international standards. I believe this project is most likely to fail due to a failure of current policy processes or a misreading of the motivations of synthesis providers. Every policy measure is tenuous until it becomes law, and so it's possible that none of the three policies we expect to materialize in California, the USA and the EU will include sufficiently stringent synthesis screening requirements to motivate adoption (I think there's a roughly 15% chance of this, and if only the California bill passes, that's a much less stronger motivation for providers). Additionally, it seems possible to me that the providers we'd be focused on (located in China, India, South Korea, and Brazil) are less motivated by continued sales to the US and EU than we expect, in which case we'll see significantly less adoption than planned.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

In the past 12 months, IBBIS has primarily raised money from Sentinel Bio, through a grant received in May 2026 (amount not currently published) and a grant received July 2025 (an initial $36,000, as well as matching of industry contributions to the SBRC, up to $175,000 ― we have currently claim over 80% of that match amount). None of these funds support screening tool development or adoption, except via small overhead amounts; they primarily support the SBRC and IBBIS's policy advocacy and international standards work.

This project was initially proposed and funded through grantmaking.ai.