American Chemical Society AMA: Hi Reddit! My name is Megan J. Palmer, of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Ask me anything about synthetic biology and the responsible development of biotechnology!

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Hi Reddit! I’m Megan J. Palmer, a Senior Research Scholar and William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. I lead a research program focused on governing risk in biotechnology and other emerging technologies. Before moving to Stanford, I served for 5 years as the Deputy Director of the policy-related research program of the multi-university Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (Synberc). I was also previously a research scientist at the California Center for Quantitative Bioscience at UC Berkeley, and an affiliate of Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.

I believe that getting diverse communities working in biotechnology more involved in policy discussions is vital to developing the quickly advancing field responsibly and building global leadership to prepare for and respond to inevitable surprise. I founded and serve as Executive Director of the Synthetic Biology Leadership Excellence Accelerator Program (LEAP), which is an international fellowship program in responsible biotechnology leadership. I also lead programs in safety and responsible innovation (which we call ‘Human Practices’) for the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. I advise various organizations on their approach to biotechnology policy, including serving on the board of the synthetic biology program of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genomics Institute (JGI).

Before moving into policy I trained as a scientist and engineer. My Ph.D. is in in Biological Engineering from MIT, and I was a postdoctoral scholar in the Bioengineering Department at Stanford University. I received a B.Sc.E. in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University, in Kingston, Canada.

Ask me anything about synthetic biology and the responsible development of biotechnology!

I’ll be back at 1pm ET (10am PT, 5pm UTC) to answer your questions.

">American Chemical Society AMA: Hi Reddit! My name is Megan J. Palmer, of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Ask me anything about synthetic biology and the responsible development of biotechnology!