Biophysical Society Bulletin | April 2020

Public Affairs

Around theWorld Worldwide Precautions for COVID-19 Have Repercussions on Research The ripple effect from the January 23 shut-down of travel in and out of Wuhan, China, has resulted in a growing number of researchers in quarantine who are isolated in their homes, unable to visit their labs. Researchers working outside of Chi- na, who had returned home for visits or conferences, are left unsure of when they will be able to return and continue their research. Research efforts are not only being felt by those under quarantine in China, but also by researchers in other countries who work collaboratively with Chinese scientists. While the quarantines and travel bans have allowed other countries to prepare for what is now a global outbreak, it remains to be seen what kind of impact these months of lost or delayed work will have on global research. High-Risk AI Technology Facing Strict Regulations in Europe The European Commission has unveiled its plan to strictly regulate artificial intelligence (AI). New laws will be drafted to include a ban on “black box” AI systems that humans can’t in- terpret. This ban aims at governing high-risk uses of the tech- nology, such as in medical devices and self-driving cars. The plan also includes measures to update the European Union’s 2018 AI strategy and pump billions of Euros into research and development over the next decade. The commission wants binding rules for “high-risk” uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in sectors like health care, transport, or criminal justice. The criteria to determine risk would include considerations such as whether someone could get hurt — by a self-driving car or a medical device, for example — or whether a person has little say in whether they’re affected by a machine’s decision. The rules would also govern the large data sets used in training AI systems, ensuring that they are legally procured, traceable to their source, and sufficiently broad to train the system. The law will also establish who is responsible for actions resulting from an AI system— such as the company using it, or the company that designed it. High-risk applications would have to be shown to be com- pliant with the rules before being deployed in the European Union.

A Scientist on Capitol Hill: An Inside View on the Coronavirus Timeline Researchers throughout government, academia, and industry have been working at a breakneck pace to study the novel coronavirus that is at the center of the current worldwide outbreak. Within just two weeks of publication of the genetic sequence of the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a RT-PCR assay for detection of this virus, and soon after they published the protocol for this assay on their website. About a month later, the first two atomic-level cryo-EM structures of the viral spike glyco- proteins were published by researchers at the University of Texas and the University of Washington. Just 42 days after publication of the genetic sequence, Moderna Therapeutics developed a vaccine candidate for clinical trials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. These remarkable breakthroughs would not have been pos- sible without years of research on similar coronaviruses like those that cause SARS and MERS. However, STAT report- ed coronavirus researchers have faced fluctuating funding opportunities. Research funding has increased in immediate response to previous outbreaks caused by coronaviruses, but when the immediate threat passes, funding has settled back down. The current outbreak underscores the importance of sustained federal research funding, from basic biomedical research to vaccine development, in our country’s ability to respond to outbreaks. Without those researchers like the groups in Texas and Washington, who are poised to study novel disease-causing pathogens, we would not be able to react as quickly to future threats to human health. We must invest in the next generation of researchers who study the fundamental aspects of pathogens by providing steady, pre- dictable funding. Finally, the rapid availability of research results has undoubt- edly accelerated the pace of our understanding of this novel threat. A group of over 100 publishers, scientific societies, and research funders signed a pledge to ensure rapid and open sharing of research results related to the novel coronavirus. This situation may turn out to be a useful test case for the utility of preprint publication, and the ability of the scientific community to conduct peer review in real-time. https:/www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/rt-pcr-detection-instructions.html https:/science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/02/19/science.abb2507 https:/www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.19.956581v1 https:/investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-ships-mr- na-vaccine-against-novel-coronavirus-mrna-1273 https:/www.statnews.com/2020/02/10/fluctuating-funding-and-flagging-inter- est-hurt-coronavirus-research/ https:/wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/sharing-research-data-and-findings-relevant-nov- el-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak https:/www.statnews.com/2020/02/03/retraction-faulty-coronavirus-paper-good-mo- ment-for-science/ — Leah Cairns , BPS Congressional Fellow https:/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/sars-cov-2-seqs/

April 2020

7

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y