Improperly protected human pathogen research poses risks to human health and well-being through laboratory accidents and the malicious misuse of laboratory materials or information. A patchwork of US government policies serves to manage these risks, but private nonprofit and for-profit performers of human pathogen research are subject to less oversight than government or academic research performers.

To support informed decisions about regulation, Gryphon estimated the size, nature, and oversight capacities of the US private sector in human pathogen research by using data from multiple sources. This study estimated about one quarter of human pathogen research performed in the US occurs in the private sector.

To learn more, check out the final report and a TIME article co-authored by Deloitte’s (formerly Gryphon) Dan Greene below.

REPORT: Characterizing Private-Sector Research on Human Pathogens in the US

TIME ARTICLE | The Danger of ‘Invisible’ Biolabs Across the U.S.

CLIENT | Open Philanthropy

STAFF | Dr. Rocco Casagrande, Dr. Dan Greene, Audrey Cerles, Landy Sun, Alyssa Brookhart

Gryphon led a data collection project on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to strengthen partnerships between public health and clinical laboratories to improve surge testing during the response to a biological, chemical, or radiological incident. The foundation of this project was a national survey of clinical laboratories aimed at understanding their laboratory capabilities, factors that influence capacity, and willingness to participate in surge testing during an emergency. This survey, conducted between January and September 2021, provided the first nationally representative view of the US clinical laboratory sector and yielded key insights into factors that influence collaboration with the public health sector to effectively respond to public health incidents.

In late 2022, Gryphon hosted a series of meetings with public health and clinical laboratory partners to discuss implications of the survey findings, culminating in the development of evidence-based options for strengthening diagnostic laboratory public-private partnerships. Currently, we are continuing to support CDC in operationalizing the project findings through the development of a Roadmap for Laboratory Partner Engagement.

CLIENT | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

STAFF | Corey Meyer, Laurel MacMillan, Emma Stump, Lily Adams, Erin Lauer, Michael Haverkate, John Hurst

PARTNERS | Abt Associates, Healthcare Ready, Association of Public Health Laboratories, Association of American Medical Colleges, National Marrow Donor Program

Gryphon helped enhance regional cyber risk management capacities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Southeast Asia (SEA) by developing and delivering training on a cybersecurity risk assessment tool for high-containment laboratories (HCLs) and outlining cyber biosecurity mitigation strategies for HCLs. To develop the cyber risk assessment tool, Gryphon engaged laboratory experts from several SSA/SEA HCLs to:

• Define their facilities’ information workflow and network architecture;
• Identify basic cybersecurity controls aligned to the needs of HCLs and tools to implement those controls; and
• Analyze existing cybersecurity controls and recommend new controls to improve the labs’ cyber hygiene cost-effectively.

Gryphon hosted region-specific workshops for participants to share best practices and train additional laboratory personnel on the use of the cyber risk management analysis and assessment tool. Following these activities, Gryphon developed a publication outlining general cyber infrastructure/workflow in HCLs, potential vulnerabilities, and risk analysis and mitigation strategies for HCLs in SSA and SEA.

Review Article | Cyberbiosecurity in high-containment laboratories

STAFF | Dr. Nicole Tensmeyer, Beth Crawford, Landy Sun, Dr. Gautham Venugopalan, Christian Garnier

CLIENT | Department of State

PARTNERS | Veribo Analytics