11-14, 14:20–14:35 (Asia/Bangkok), Breakout 3
The past history of pandemics and biological attacks, lab accidents and epidemics show a recurrent theme of denial, silence and cover-up around unnatural epidemics and the powerful vested interests at play. Quantum advances in genetic engineering and synthetic biology may lead to a future where resurrection of extinct viruses are the norm. The risk of unnatural pandemics is greater than ever and poses an existential threat. Early warnings of epidemics through OSINT can help mitigate the risk.
Professor Raina MacIntyre is Head of the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia. She leads research on prevention and detection of epidemic infections, with a focus on vaccines and facemasks. She has received many awards for research and is on the editorial boards of Vaccine, BMJ Open and Epidemiology & Infection. She leads EPIWATCH, an open-source early warning system for epidemics and pandemics, which has been supported by Vitalik Buterin's Balvi Filantropik Fund.