Biosecurity Expertise

Narrative Overview

CRDF Global is looking to deepen our bench of experts in support of our Biosecurity programming that aims to promote responsible science and technology development and prevent the deployment of biological weapons (BW) or the acquisition of BW-applicable materials and data. The program also seeks to protect U.S. biotechnologies and bio-pharmaceutical supply chains by denying adversaries access to genomic data, biotechnology intellectual property, and manufacturing capacity. This portfolio supports partner countries in strengthening laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, building research oversight capacity, and promoting adoption of U.S. standards and norms for laboratory security, cybersecurity, and data protection. Regions include Africa, EAP, EUR, NEA, SCA, and WHA, with a focus on countries with growing biotech sectors, genomic sequencing centers, and high containment laboratories (HCLs).

Core Technical Domains:

Experts are sought in the following areas (including but not limited to):

• Pathogen Security & Biosafety
  
  
  
  • Secure handling of high-consequence pathogens (), laboratory containment (BSL-2/3/4), development of laboratory safety and security management systems.
  • Strengthening operations & maintenance practices for HCLs and biorepositories to prevent accidental or deliberate release
  
  
  
  
• Data (Genomic Data) Security & Biotechnology Security
  
  
  
  • Protecting sensitive genomic sequencing data and bioinformatics pipelines.
  • Secure collaboration practices for genomic and synthetic biology research, including data use/transfer agreements (DTAs/DUAs), tech transfer agreements, and IP protection agreements
  
  
  
  
• Bioinformatics and Emerging Biotechnologies
  
  
  
  • Synthetic biology, gene editing (e.g., CRISPR), computational pipelines with dual-use potential.
  
  
  
  
• Supply Chain Security for Biological Materials
  
  
  
  • Risk mitigation for sourcing and distribution of biological reagents, specialized equipment, and consumables.
  • Partnering with manufacturers and distributors to harden supply chains/ identify chokepoints.
  
  
  
  
• Cyberbiosecurity
  
  
  
  • Applying cryptographic and access control solutions for sensitive data.
  • Securing genomic databases, patient data, and bioinformatics pipelines from exfiltration or manipulation.
  
  
  
  

Cross-Cutting Security and Governance Domains:

Experts should also demonstrate experience in at least one of the exampled categories or related activities:

• Best Practices and Regulatory Compliance: Train scientific communities, such as those in biotech sectors, working with toxins, conducting synthetic biology, and storing/ housing human genomic data on security best practices.
• Risk Assessment & Gap Analysis: Institutional and national-level analysis of biosafety/biosecurity vulnerabilities.
• Personnel Reliability & Insider Threat Mitigation: Programs for staff vetting, monitoring, and training.
• Research Ethics & Oversight: Development and training of institutional biosafety committees (IBCs) and DURC review (research oversight) systems.
• Operations and Maintenance (O&M): Strengthen O&M practices for HCLs and biorepositories to mitigate risks of unintentional pathogen release due to failing infrastructure and equipment.
• U.S. Policy and Best Practices: Understanding of U.S. policy and best practices for biosafety/biosecurity, cybersecurity, research oversight, gain-of-function research, nucleic acid synthesis screening, etc.
• Public-Private Engagement: Facilitating industry dialogues to promote secure practices and U.S.-aligned standards in biotechnology sectors.
• Open-Source Research: Ability to draft/produce, compile, and summarize open-source research reports for incorporation into project planning or project implementation.
• Counter China/ U.S. Adversaries Expertise: Working knowledge of threats posed by U.S. adversaries (state actors) to undermine/ threaten U.S. national and economic security.
• Understanding of the International Landscape for Biotechnology: Demonstrate understanding of foreign biotechnology sectors, including the key players and contacts, maturity of given sectors, and strategies to encourage engagement on programming, to include but not limited to private biotech companies, R&D start-ups, vaccine/medical countermeasure developers and producers

Illustrative Activities

Experts on the Biosecurity bench may be asked to:

• Engage industry and government stakeholders in supply chain security dialogues and policy development.
• Support proposal development with subject-matter expertise to strengthen competitive bids.
• Conduct biosafety and biosecurity gap analyses of laboratories, repositories, and biotech firms.
• Deliver training programs for laboratory staff, administrators, IT managers, and policymakers.
• Support development of SOPs, curricula, and toolkits for safe and secure research practices.
• Lead tabletop exercises and simulations to stress-test partner capacity for outbreak response or insider threat events.
• Provide cybersecurity training and incident response planning tailored to biological facilities.
• Assist partners with institutionalizing research oversight mechanisms and integrating them into national regulatory frameworks.