Technology or method
Recombinant DNA
DNA joined from different sources, the starting point of genetic engineering and of medicines such as recombinant insulin.
Biosafety
Risk-based practices and containment that protect people and the environment when working with biological agents.Source: WHO, 2020Source: CDCSource: Berg et al., 1975
Also called biosecurity, containment.
Ethics and safety
How Biosafety connects
Biosafety is raised by
Technology or method
Synthetic biology
Designing and building new biological parts, circuits and systems.
Emerging researchOpen in Biotech Lab
Biosafety is an example of
Ethics and safety
Bioethics
Weighing the benefits, risks and fairness of biological research and its uses.
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Laboratory biosafety manual, 4th edition (opens the original in a new tab)
World Health Organization (2020). WHO publications. World Health Organization. Published 2020-12-21.
GuidanceIntergovernmental sourceBiosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), 6th Edition (opens the original in a new tab)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health. CDC Laboratories. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The U.S. reference for laboratory biosafety practice.
GuidanceGovernment sourceSummary statement of the Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA molecules (opens the original in a new tab)
Berg P, Baltimore D, Brenner S, et al. (1975). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 72:1981-1984.
Scientists' own guidelines for the safe conduct of recombinant DNA research.
Peer-reviewedPerspective