Synthetic biology, global health, and its global governance

Synthetic biology, global health, and its global governance

Conor Douglas and Dirk Stemerding: Special Issue Systems and Synthetic Biology 2013 Volume 7 Issue 3

This Special Issue focuses on a particular set of SynBio applications and process as they relate to global health. It seeks to expand the scope of ‘societal aspects’ to explore how they might play-out, and what their governance might look like, when placed in a global setting. Global health can be understood to operate with many of the same objectives as public health in terms of promoting health and preventing disease; however, it stresses consideration of the health needs of the people of the whole planet above the concerns of particular nations’ or particular publics. SynBio is positioned to address major global health issues through advanced vaccine development, diagnostics, drug synthesis, and the detection and remediation of environmental toxins.