Detection overview

Detection deep-dive

Option 1: Country-specific biosurveillance

Option 2: Metagenomic sequencing technology roadmap

Option 3: Rapid individual testing

Intro - Delay patient zero

Delay overview

Delay deep-dive

Option 1: Deter - Reducing intent

Option 2: Deny - Regulating discovery

Option 3: Deny - Implementing AI model-level safeguards

Option 4: Deny - Safeguarding research infrastructure

Intro

The history of pandemics and bioweapons

The future of pandemics and bioweapons?

Towards a pandemic-proof world

[Optional] Biology 101 for biosecurity

[Optional] Biosecurity overviews

Rapid MCM overview

Rapid MCM development deep-dive

Option 1: Faster R&D

Option 2: Clinical trials innovation

Option 3: Better financing and procurement

Option 4: Faster manufacturing and delivery

Your next steps

Choose your focus

Biosecurity project ideas

Create your 1-pager

Next steps: Technical fellowships

Next steps: Policy fellowships

Next steps: Career resources

Next steps: Programs

NPI overview

NPI deep-dive

Option 1: Pandemic-proof PPE

Option 2: Biohardening indoor spaces

Option 3: Social interventions

**Blocking transmission prevents outbreaks from becoming pandemics, keeps society running through the ones that do, and gives policymakers low-regret options between doing nothing and shutting everything down.**

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as lockdowns and masks are mostly pathogen agnostic, therefore they can be prepared beforehand and deployed within hours of discovering an emerging pandemic.

Lockdowns would almost certainly be necessary in the early days of any catastrophic pandemic. But they are a blunt tool, and we would still need to protect critical workers to provide healthcare, food, water and electricity.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a key part of this. As of 2022, the US Strategic National Stockpile only had [enough N95 respirators to cover essential workers for 10-20 days](https://fas.org/publication/resilience-caches-reusable-respirators/#:~:text=Some%20illustrative%20math%3A%20there%20are%20approximately%2050%20million%20essential%20workers%20in%20the%20United%20States%2C%20but%20as%20of%202022%20our%20Strategic%20National%20Stockpile%20only%20had%20about%20540%20million%20disposable%20N95%20respirators.%20This%20is%20barely%20enough%20to%20last%2010%20days). Many other countries are in similar or worse conditions.

We can also do more to prevent pathogen transmission in indoor spaces. Air filtration would be valuable in a pandemic scenario, but can also have massive health and productivity benefits in non-pandemic times. Far-UVC and glycol vapours are also being explored as promising technologies to reduce indoor pathogen transmission, although we don’t yet have conclusive studies on their safety and efficacy.


Pick 1 of the following 2 topics to dive deeper into. We've given you some resources on the following pages as a starting point.

- **Option 1: Pandemic-proof PPE**
- **Option 2: Biohardening indoor spaces**
- **Option 3: Social interventions**

Aim to answer the following questions:
- What are the intended goals of this intervention?
- What is the current state of this intervention?
- What are the technical or policy blockers to having the intervention ready to deploy effectively in a pandemic?

You will bring the results of your research to share in your group discussion.


Respirators are the most reliable PPE in every scenario where airborne transmission is the primary route of infection. Properly-fitted respirators protect critical workers, allowing healthcare systems and the industrial base to continue operating during a pandemic. This is important during the window before medical countermeasures become available and may be integral to being able to to manufacture and distribute those countermeasures.

The work here includes the underlying technology like materials and fit, the manufacturing base, stockpiles, and distribution systems to ensure respirators are available for critical workers as supply chains break down.

Beyond respirators, the work includes understanding when and how lockdowns can be most effective, contact-tracing, and messaging during a pandemic.

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**Guiding questions**
_Note: The questions are meant to show relevant search direction, you don’t have to answer any or all of them_
- What does the N95 filter efficiency (95%) refer to?
- How pathogen agnostic are respirators?
- How much would it cost you personally to protect yourself with high-quality respirators in your country?
- Should governments stockpile raw materials? How long could those be stockpiled?





### **Air filtration**
**Air purifiers**
Both commercial and DYI air purifiers (like the [Corsi-Rosenthal Box](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi%E2%80%93Rosenthal_Box)) were used during the COVID pandemic. They work by physically removing airborne pathogens and other contaminants (like dust and smoke) from the room air.

### Air disinfection
**Far-UVC**
Early lab studies indicate that far-UVC is effective at reducing airborne pathogen transmission and safe for humans, but real-world data is needed. This technology isn’t rapidly scalable in the event of a pandemic, so would rely on people installing it in peacetime to control common infections like colds and flu.

**Glycol vapors**
Studies on glycol vapors are more nascent. Propylene glycol (PG) vapor is used in theatrical fog and e-cigarettes, but also has antimicrobial properties. It’s unlikely that people would want theatre fog in their offices all the time, but it could be rapidly manufactured and deployed in the event of a pandemic.

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**Guiding questions (overall)**
_Note: The questions are meant to show relevant search direction, you don’t have to answer any or all of them_
- How often does air change (air changes per hour) in your house? In your car? In a plane? In an operating theatre?
- What are the use cases for filtration vs disinfection? What are their niches?

**Guiding questions (filtration)**
- How high should the single-pass efficiency of air purifier filters be? Should it be similar to
    - [Forced-air central heating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced-air) filters cassettes (~60%)?
    - Elastomeric respirators filter material (95%)?
    - HEPA filters (99.97%)?
- How expensive and available are filters in your country?
- How would you know that your purifier works?

**Guiding questions (disinfection)**
- What is the difference between far-UVC and upper-room UVC?
- Why are they not more widely used already (e.g. in farms?)


Social interventions reduce opportunities for pathogen spread by reducing the intermixing of populations. These measures are especially relevant early in a pandemic. 

Work in this area will involve research into when and how lockdowns are effective, improving contact-tracing systems, and research on what messaging is most effective at both reducing transmission and maintaining trust. 

- Lockdowns
- Contact tracing
- Border closures
- Behavioral guidelines

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**Guiding questions**
_Note: The questions are meant to show relevant search direction, you don’t have to answer any or all of them_
- What are predictors for strong adherence to social interventions and which countries executed well?
- Why is there so much argument around the effectiveness of social interventions in particular?
- To what extent should we accept economic loss due to social interventions to save lives?




Biosecurity

Option 1: Pandemic-proof PPE

Resources (1 hr 10 mins)