Alonso Flores

Safety and Security Fellow at iGEM Foundation | Passionate about biosafety and biosecurity | 23 years old.

Once a ranger, always a ranger...

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

If you're under 35 and a citizen of a BWC state party (most countries) that is a LMIC (...also most countries) you should apply for this! I know tons of folks who have gone through this and it's always great to meet them at BWC meetings.

[Yorgo El Moubayed @yorgoelmoubayed]

100 happy faces supporting 1 Grand Experience! Thank you to all volunteers for your motivation, dedication and hard work!

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

We’re participating in @iGEM’s Responsibility Conference as part of the Grand Jamboree in 🇫🇷 to highlight how youth can play a key role in promoting biosecurity & biosafety.

Great to be joined by @kirsangeles on the panel to hear her experience as a 2024 #Youth4Biosec Fellow.

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

In the October edition of GCBR org updates (assembled with @AnemoneFranz):

* multimodal virology benchmark
* how to comply with the US framework on synthesis screening
* wikipedia page and path forward on far-UVC
* risk index for AI-enabled biological tools
* & more!

[Yorgo El Moubayed @yorgoelmoubayed]

Join @iGEM, @RTX_News, @StateDept, @NIST's AI Safety Institute, @EpochAIResearch, and #TailwindBiotech to explore how can we navigate the future of AI in synthetic biology while ensuring safe, secure, and trustworthy applications?

📌Register here: https://t.co/mVu4Kx8AeV

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

Synthesis screening amounts to two questions:

1. Is this sequence dangerous?
2. Should this customer be trusted with it?

The second is a hard sociology question. The first is perhaps more straightforwardly technical— but, as you'll read in the piece, it's not easy either!

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

After🔟days of visit @UNGeneva, the 2⃣0⃣2⃣4⃣ #Youth4Biosec Fellowship ended last week!

Thank you to the fellows for the engagement, enthusiasm & for their commitment to a strengthened #1972BWC

Thank you @EU_UNGeneva @GHSFund @SwissMFA for the continued support!

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

Delighted to be visiting @GESDAglobal this morning with the #Youth4Biosec 2024 cohort where fellows are taking part in a synthetic biology diplomacy simulation game designed specifically for them.

Thank you GESDA for supporting the Fellowship!

[NTI @NTI_WMD]

🏆Winners of the 2024 Next Generation for Biosecurity Competition have been announced! Congrats to John Hurst 🇺🇸, James Kimber 🇦🇺, and @piercemanlangit 🇵🇭 #NextGen4Biosecurity

Learn more 👇 https://t.co/rnV1l7h9UU

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

The #Youth4Biosec fellowship continues this afternoon @UNGeneva with a design-thinking training organized by our partners @GHSFund

Fellows are getting ready to turn their ideas into projects and realities!

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

Today the #Youth4Biosec Fellows are visiting @SpiezLab 🇨🇭. A key visit to:

☑️ Understand how a high containment facility works #BSL4
☑️Learn about the lab's contribution to the #1972BWC
☑️Gain insights on biological emergency response teams

Thank you to @swiss_un @SwissMFA

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

In 2 months, anyone funded by the US will have to order DNA from providers who do synthesis screening. Join @RTX_News, @aclid, @NIST, @IBBIS_bio & others to learn how to comply with the new US Framework for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening.

Register here: https://t.co/Qq2x5FdXWC

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

The 2024 #Youth4Biosec Fellowship is in full swing! This week, our third online session was all about safeguarding bioscience from misuse and ensuring compliance with the #1972BWC.

Thank you to @meganjpalmer, @IBBIS_bio, @iGEM, and @TJU1895 for speaking to the Y4B Fellows!

[Alonso Flores @AlonsoFloCor]

Proud and grateful to be part of this year's cohort!!

[BWC Implementation Support Unit @BWCISU]

📢We are excited to announce the 2024 cohort of the #Youth4Biosec Fellowship!

20 new fellows join the network after we received more than 2400 applications from over 100 countries 👇
https://t.co/swZhQki631

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

I'm so excited that v0.1.0 of the the Common Mechanism is now available for everyone to use! Let me know what you need from v0.2, and what else you want to see our new international biosecurity organization tackling.

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

The White House Synthesis Screening Framework just dropped!

* requires providers to follow 2023 HHS guidance
* biofoundries, cloud labs, core facilities and CROs count as nucleic acid providers
* adherence via self-attestation

[iGEM Community @iGEMCommunity]

Alonso Flores shares iGEM's efforts to enable and promote safe and responsible synthetic biology research in the panel on "Anticipatory Governance and Responsible Innovation" with Fanny E, Sophie Peresson, Eefje Cuppen and Isabel Webb at the OECD Global Forum on Technology

[Tessa Alexanian @tessafyi]

Looking for some spicy takes on what people are getting wrong in biosecurity? @AnemoneFranz and I anonymously interviewed experts on common misconceptions in biosecurity, particularly among people working on global catastrophic risks.

[NTI @NTI_WMD]

Learn more about the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science. ▶️ https://t.co/x4OfDRyg17

[NTI @NTI_WMD]

IBBIS Executive Director @pdmillett is speaking at the launch of the new organization which is dedicated to safeguarding the tools of modern bioscience and biotechnology from deliberate or accidental misuse.

Learn more about IBBIS. 👉 https://t.co/RQh6d8L9QA