▶ 0:00:20Here you go.
▶ 0:01:08Which way?
▶ 0:01:40Test test test. Control testing.
▶ 0:09:53Ready to go. Good morning everyone. Come committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. I'd like to welcome everyone to today's hearing entitled pursuing the golden age of innovation strategic priorities in biotechnology.
▶ 0:10:19This is a critically important subject and I am uh really looking forward to uh our discussion today. So I will start by uh recognizing myself for five minutes from opening Um, since Mendele's first experiments with pea plants laid the foundation for our understanding of genetics, humans have been using biological principles to advance science and technology. From healthcare to materials to food production, biotechnology influences every industry in the United States.
▶ 0:10:49Throughout the 20th century, the US has dominated the field of biotechnology. In fact, modern biotechnology is actually an American innovation. US scientists consistently produce breakthroughs, innovations, and solidify our position as a global leader. However, I think we all recognize that the Chinese Communist Party is closing the gap in biotechnology. Our Chinese competitors seek to dominate the field and force global dependence on their manufacturing capabilities.
▶ 0:11:15In fact, in just five years, the market value of Chinese biotechnology firms has increased 100fold and is now valued at $300 The golden age of innovation for biotechnology is here and it's essential that the US be at the forefront and that's why we're having this hearing today. With the help of artificial intelligence, our researchers are beginning to decipher the patterns that govern the complex behavior of biological systems.
▶ 0:11:43The tremendous modeling power of AI will allow for the direct programming of cells to perform specific functions just as we program computers today. Imagine the potential applications of AI where we have models fluent in DA and biological molecules in the same way that large language models are fluent fluent in human languages. That's why AI is poised to revolutionize biotechnology, accelerating discovery and dramatically reducing research costs.
▶ 0:12:10However, to unlock this potential, we must invest in the fundamental research and development that will drive the innovations of tomorrow. In an address earlier this year, Michael Katzios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, recognized biotechnology as a national science priority. And I completely agree with the director. The government must enable American scientists to explore new theories and empower engineers to commercialize this technology.
▶ 0:12:38However, I think we all recognize federal investments alone cannot achieve this goal and the US must capitalize on its strengths. One such strength of our domestic science and technology enterprise is public private partnerships. The federal government must coordinate with private industry to make complimentary investments that advance science and technology. In our current fiscal environment, which we all know is challenging, we need to prioritize investments to protect the precious public treasure that's been entrusted to us.
▶ 0:13:07In April, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology released a report emphasizing the significance of maintaining US global leadership. This report includes numerous recommendations for this committee, which I look forward to discussing with everyone today. Importantly, the report highlights the necessity of a whole of nation strategy to unlock America's biotechnology potential. The National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are strategically positioned to promote this national effort.
▶ 0:13:37For example, NSF has established five bio foundry facilities that enable researchers to rapidly design, create, test, and refine the development of tools and technology for advancing biotechnology. I was pleased to see the president's budget request includes continued support for these facilities. And we'll talk about some of the other aspects of the president's budget The NCEB report also calls for NIST to create standards for biological data to ensure readiness for use in AI models.
▶ 0:14:04This recommendation builds on NIST's existing activities which already provide reference materials for quality control, benchmarking data, and technical advice for US and international standards development. Additionally, the NIST biommanufacturing program supports the US pharmaceutical industry in delivering high-quality and lowcost drugs worldwide, including through the National Institute for Innovation and Manufacturing Biioharmaceuticals.
▶ 0:14:28Federal investment can be a force multiplier that reinvigorates our biotechnology research ecosystem and guarantees US leadership for decades to come. Whatever strategy Congress adopts, it must promote and protect American values while being flexible enough to adapt and pivot to take advantage of new technological advancements. I believe the US can continue its leadership in biotechnology. But we must act now, and that's why this hearing is so important. I would like to thank all of our witnesses for being here today.
▶ 0:14:58I look forward to your testimony and a productive discussion on this critically important topic. I'll yield back the balance of my time and I now recognize the ranking member, the representative from Michigan for her opening statement. Well, thank you so much, Chairman um Obernolulti and of course Chairman Weber. Uh love to see a joint subcommittee hearing on pursuing the golden age of innovation with strategic priorities in biotechnology.
▶ 0:15:25And of course coming on the heels of this uh incredible report that the uh biotech commission has has put forward which was chartered through the national security commission and um of course all of our witnesses uh here today who are providing the fundamental research and and biotech. We are absolutely delighted to hear from you. I I come from the great state of Michigan. Um Dr.
▶ 0:15:52PCman knows a a thing or two about what's happening in in Michigan and we like to boast that we are a global powerhouse in manufacturing especially as we chart the course for uh continued development in the field of advanced manufacturing in our state. We design, prototype, and build things. And we also grow things.
▶ 0:16:16And Michigan is home to over 800,000 agricultural workers representing a thriving agricultural sector. And just like our manufacturing, Michigan's agriculture is harnessing new technologies to improve efficiency, reduce losses, and pioneer breakthroughs in biio manufacturing, biioaterials, and of course, biotechnology. And this is simply what makes Michigan Michigan.
▶ 0:16:46So for generations, we've succeeded by uniting innovation and pro production. We don't just invent new ideas, we bring them to life and we scale them for the world. And biotech is the next frontier of this story for Michigan.
▶ 0:17:03And as a sitting member of the United States Congress, I am dogged about bringing and harnessing and developing more biotech opportunities for Michigan from our upper peninsula to downstate and bringing together the critical stakeholders from university to small businesses to uh municipal actors as well as wellestablished small businesses to the large.
▶ 0:17:33And with the right investments, we know that biotech can unlock new industries, create high wage jobs, support rural and agricultural communities, and even help us meet environmental goals. So again, I'm so proud to welcome Dr.
▶ 0:17:51Steven Trekman of Michigan Technological uh University, our newest R1 um institution, whose work exemplifies how biotech can solve modern problems and can uplift regions like northern Michigan and the upper peninsula.
▶ 0:18:10If the US wants to lead in the 21st century, which we are clearly in and we clearly do, uh we want to lead in biotech and we cannot wait, especially as global competitors are moving fast. In addition to this role that I am so honored to have on the science, space, and technology committee, I also serve on the House Select Committee on Competitiveness with the Chinese Communist Party.
▶ 0:18:36We know that the CCP has been doubling down on their investment in biotechnology as a means to further their dominance in this critical technology of the future. They realize that biotech is converging with other technologies in particular as the chairman said artificial intelligence and is likely to form the basis of the next industrial revolution with a projected global value of 4 trillion by 2030.
▶ 0:19:04Indicators are starting to show that China could potentially beat the United States in biotech innovation. For example, they lead in the number of highly cited biotech related publications on a country bycountry basis. They spend twice as much as the US government on agricultural research and development. And they are investing heavily in biology enabled warfare.
▶ 0:19:28When faced with this reality, you think the United States would respond by doubling down on research investments to support that innovation. And I will say what others cannot. This current administration is posing challenges to that reality and they are not currently meeting that goal. So this past week we have seen um the proposed budget for federal agencies and biotechnology is on the chopping block.
▶ 0:19:56The National Science Foundation has been proposed a $5.1 billion 57% cut relative to fiscal year 2024 levels. And that includes over a hundred million in cuts directly to biotech programs. Even before this budget proposal, the current administration terminated over $50 million in obligated research funding at NSF divisions focused on bio biological research.
▶ 0:20:25The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which performs critical work on biometrology, is estimated to receive a $325 million cut across the agency. So, with that, I'm slightly over my time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for obliging my five minutes, and I look forward to uh our incredible hearing today. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. I now recognize the chairman of the Energy Subcommittee, Representative from Texas for his opening statement. Thank you chairman.
▶ 0:20:55Good morning. Today the SST committee is gathered to discuss the current landscape of biotechnology including recent advancements, challenges and future prospects in this dynamic field. Biotechnology has the potential to revolutionize a wide range of sectors. But it also poses significant risks if exploited by malicious actors. We know who we're talking about.
▶ 0:21:19That is why the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act established the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology to provide a clearer picture of biotech's current and potential capabilities. The Department of Energy DOE has unique computing, biology, and data science capabilities that enable it to excel in transforming biotechnology.
▶ 0:21:41This agency has some of the world's leading X-ray and neutron sources, allowing researchers to study molecular structures essential for pharmaceutical development. Additionally, DOE is home to some of the fastest supercomputers on the planet, which facilitate the accurate modeling of complex biological systems. The department is dedicated to ongoing research and is skilled in maintaining well-curated highquality data to help the scientific community advance.
▶ 0:22:11This expertise along DOE's network of user facilities positions it to to play a vital role in driving progress in biotechnology. Thanks to investments made over the past few decades, including efforts like the human genome project, which was supported by the department of energy and national institutes of health, biotechnology has gradually shifted from purely basic research and between and potential commercial technology.
▶ 0:22:38It's evident in the department of energy's bioeny research centers or we call them BRC's. Researchers at the BRC's provide foundational science to industry partners who can develop new bioproducts and bofuels based on their discoveries. These centers funded through the DOE office of science conduct basic research in genomic sciences and biomicrobial systems biology to advance energy relevant systems biology.
▶ 0:23:05As this technology progresses into more applied applications, we must be increasingly mindful of the potential negative consequences. If it could have gotten into the wrong hands, we know we're talking about the Chinese Communist Party. They are investing significant sums of money into the biotech field for traditional commercial uses as well as military purposes.
▶ 0:23:28In various technology sectors, we have observed that the CCP will not hesitate to exploit, manipulate, and steal research that they believe could provide them with an advantage, whether military or otherwise. I look forward to discussing how the United States balances the importance of open, transparent science with the need to restrict access to certain types of research.
▶ 0:23:51I'm also eager to discuss the recommendations developed by the national security commission on emerging bi biotechnology based on its broad assessment of the current US biotechnology research and development ecosystem. It is essential that we explore the innovative possibilities for the future of biotechnology to address key challenges and enhance national security. Now, one of the things I learned, Mr. chairman is to do some of that investigating myself.
▶ 0:24:17And uh the start of this week on June 1st, one of our esteemed colleagues up here had a birthday. Her name is Haley Stevens. So, can we congratulate her happy birthday? Can we? Mr. Chairman, with that, Haley wants me to yield back. Thank you, Chairman Weber. I think we'll uh we'll issue the birthday song.
▶ 0:24:47I now recognize the ranking member of the energy subcommittee, the representative from North Carolina for her opening statement. Good morning and thank you chairman Obernolulti and chairman Weber for convening this hearing today to discuss recommendations of the National Security Commission on emerging biotechnology and how we can continue to advance the biotechnology research and development ecosystem here in the United States.
▶ 0:25:13Just last week, I held a biotechnology um roundt in my district in the research triangle area of North Carolina. We had more than a dozen um researchers, people who are in the innovation field and um companies that are very very concerned and um I'll be sharing some of their questions with you as we proceed.
▶ 0:25:41I also want to thank our distinguished witnesses for being here to share your testimony and insight. Biotechnology is a field that spans from food and agriculture to energy and it's one that enables and supports so many of our other sectors of our economy.
▶ 0:25:57It includes the energy dense feed stocks that we use to make bofuels, energyefficient crops that require less water and land to grow, and the biio-mediation of plastic pollutants that chronically plague our waterways. As Representative Rouseer knows, biotechnology it um are developing real solutions that will help everyday lives of Americans.
▶ 0:26:24In my district, North Carolina's largest research park, which I share with Congresswoman Fushi, we have an abundance of biotechnology companies working on these very issues. Furthermore, North Carolina State University is one of the leaders in biotechnology research, and I'm proud to support their efforts. During regular times, this would be a straightforward topic for this committee to discuss.
▶ 0:26:50But in light of this administration's ridiculous budget proposal to gut funding for a broad range of critical innovation programs, we're also forced to start considering the potential impacts from the rippling effects of these cuts. And I heard all about them last week in my district. The National Security Commission's final report was clear.
▶ 0:27:15The United States is falling behind China in key biotechnology areas and my constituents told me exactly that last week. What we need to do is position our nation for success to develop a federal strategy biotechnology, provide adequate federal funding, foster innovation from early stage research through the commercialization of new technologies.
▶ 0:27:44continue to attract top talent, which this administration is scaring away and out. And we need to do this as fast as possible. This administration released a budget proposal doing just the opposite. 74.5% cut to the funding of the Department of Energy's bioeny technologies office. a 56% cut to its biological and environmental research program.
▶ 0:28:15And then there are the untold impacts of the massive cuts to expert staff in these offices that Elon Musk's Doge helped organize. This level of funding would be devastating to our research enterprise and if enacted would essentially hand our leadership in biotechnology over to China on a silver platter. And for what? The sum of these cuts is a drop in the bucket of our federal budget.
▶ 0:28:44Yet, they would come at a cost that will be multiples higher to our national competitiveness and will be felt for decades. We only have to look at what happened to our manufacturing industry over the last half a century to see that history will repeat itself. If we lose our leadership to China in biotechnology research, then we will start to see more and more scientific breakthroughs happening overseas with us playing catch-up.
▶ 0:29:15We also will have fewer startups, less private investment because we have less innovation happening domestically, which means fewer jobs for our future students, fewer products being designed and manufactured in the United States, and instead being imported at a higher cost due to Trump's tariffs.
▶ 0:29:37The commission's report concluded that China is using every tool at its disposal to replace the United States as the global leader in biotechnology and that if we fail to meet this moment, our economic leadership will be weakened for generations. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.
▶ 0:30:07Thank you, Ranking Member Ross. I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, the representative from Texas for his opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and very much looking forward to uh to today's discussion on this absolutely transformative field. Biotechnology is reshaping nearly every aspect of American life.
▶ 0:30:27From AIdriven drug discovery and precision agriculture to synthetic biology and advanced biio manufacturing, it is a strategic capability that underpins our economic strength, our public health, food security, and our national security. Thanks to decades of federal investment, pioneering academic research, and a robust private sector, the United States has long been a global leader in biotechnology.
▶ 0:30:55In the 1940s and 1950s, American scientist Norman Borlau, known known as the father of the green revolution, developed high yield crop strains that saved billions from famine and revolutionized food production. His work laid the foundation for modern biotechnology, which took off in 1973 when American scientists developed a breakthrough technique that allowed the production of genetically engineered human insulin.
▶ 0:31:23It became the first US approved biotech product in 1982 and has since improved the lives of millions of Americans and people around the world with diabetes. More recently, American innovation has driven rapid advances in biotechnology from gene editing with crisper cast 9 uh to immunotherapies and precision medicine. But today we stand at a critical juncture as US leadership is under threat without question.
▶ 0:31:53The Chinese Communist Party or the CCP is laser focused on global domination and the next generation of biotechnologies through IP theft, international talent recruitment and civil military fusion. the CCP as a clear strategy to displace US leadership and using biotechnology as a tool to challenge our security, our values and our economic future.
▶ 0:32:21We cannot allow an authoritarian regime that rejects transparency, rejects ethics and individual liberties to set the global standard for biotechnology. To counter the CCP, we must build on our strengths. The United States has the most dynamic innovation ecosystem in the entire world. To maintain our edge, we must ensure American innovation serves American interests.
▶ 0:32:46This means reinforcing our domestic research enterprise, speeding labtomarket progress, and ensuring taxpayer funded breakthroughs benefit America, not our adversaries. Federal R&D investments should align with industry strengths. They should clear bottlenecks and respect fiscal realities. We are not going to outmatch the CCP by copying its top-down approach.
▶ 0:33:12We will win by embracing what sets our country apart from the the other ones. Our freedom to innovate, our open scientific community, and the unmatched power of American ingenuity. Now is the time to launch a new golden age of innovation in biotechnology rooted in American values driven by public private partnerships and focused on solving the challenges of tomorrow.
▶ 0:33:38This committee has both the opportunity and the responsibility to preserve and propel American leadership in biotechnology well into the future. I also recognize concerns raised in the research community regarding recent proposals and the president's budget request. Let me remind everyone that this is just the beginning of the budget process. An opening proposal, not a fiscal verdict. This committee will review these proposals very closely.
▶ 0:34:09We intend to work with the administration to ensure America's S&T enterprise remains strong and globally competitive. As the GAO recently warned, our fiscal trae trajectory is unsustainable. If we fail to course correct, we jeopardize the long-term vitality of our entire science and technology portfolio.
▶ 0:34:32OM's budget request seeks to address this reality and is the beginning and our emphasize beginning of a long conversation about how to meet this challenge. If we truly believe research is an investment in the future, as I do, then we shouldn't be funding it on the national credit card and mortgaging our children's futures. We need a sustainable approach.
▶ 0:34:58President Trump has tasked his science advisor to ensure US leadership in emerging technologies, revitalizing our scientific enterprise, and fueling our economic growth. The administration, the Congress, this committee and its stakeholders will now need to work together to chart a responsible path to a forward that achieves these goals.
▶ 0:35:21If we get this right, we will protect not only our scientific leadership but our security, our economy, and our way of life. I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I look forward to this conversation and yield back. Thank you, Chairman Babin. I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, my colleague from California, for her opening opening statement. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:35:44As with most of the hearings our committee's held these last few months, we have an excellent panel of witnesses here uh to discuss an important topic for the future of the nation. And like most of these hearings, I anticipate the discussion uh to be substantive, engaging, and bipartisan. I recognize it's not just as central to the future economy of my own district in California from agriculture to pharmaceuticals but central uh to the future of our nation's entire economy.
▶ 0:36:14And it's here in the science committee that we help map out the future for our country. So I want to note my appreciation for uh chairman Babin and his colleagues for continuing this substantive bipartisan approach uh to the issues at hand at the science committee.
▶ 0:36:31It's in the best interests of our constituents and the nation as well as the best use of the time of these eminent scientists and leaders we ask to appear before us uh scientists who otherwise would be in the lab directing uh their critical research.
▶ 0:36:47At the same time, as anyone who's paid attention to our hearings would note, my colleagues and I on this side of the aisle are increasingly frustrated that we seem to be holding these hearings as if all is okay in science outside the four walls of this room when I don't think that's correct. The administration, aided by uh Mr. Musk, has been on the war path against US science.
▶ 0:37:12They have thrown around excuses played on both imagined and real challenges in the research enterprise to take a slash and burn approach to our scientific enterprise. The consequences are already rippling across the nation. Abrupt funding cancellations to ongoing research and STEM workforce development programs reduce graduate student admissions and STEM departments for the coming year.
▶ 0:37:37a brain drain of top US talent to other nations uh or outside of STEM careers altogether and a chill across the entire enterprise that is leaving young students asking why bother uh to pursue science. We're holding this hearing embracing the future of US biotechnology biotechnology leadership but there's not going to be a big future if the president's attacks on science aren't stopped.
▶ 0:38:04Now, my intent is not to minimize the importance of this hearing to the panel of experts before us. I'm grateful to you for taking the time to appear before us today to share your expertise and insights. I look forward to the discussion and I would note that the commission report I think is excellent uh very helpful to us as a guide for what to do. Um I think there's some clear things uh that we need to address.
▶ 0:38:31uh first we need to make sure that we have a nurturing environment for scientists in this country and that includes doctoral uh students, postocs, professors, career scientists that's not just funding but also a welcoming attitude. Uh we have uh seen uh Americans born in other countries leaving because of the hostility that they are uh perceiving. That needs to change.
▶ 0:39:00We need to make sure as Dr. Endy said in his uh report that we're focusing on fundamental science. Let's not get diverted to a wish list of what we'd like. We need to fund the fundamental science that is the basis for all further uh development. I would note also u that robust funding is critical for this. It is critical.
▶ 0:39:24I recently had a chance to visit uh with the uh Stanford bioengineering uh uh department. Fabulous work that is going on and I wish this whole committee could go out there and see what they're doing. It is jaw-dropping and wonderful. One of the things that I saw there was a a handmade sign that one of the students had posted and the sign said Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license.
▶ 0:39:52Um, we also need to make sure that we don't overreach out of concern and overregulate in a way that chills scientific development. And I think that sign spoke uh to that uh concern. So with that, let me just say, Mr. Chairman, I think this is an important hearing. I'm I'm pleased that this committee continues to work on a bipartisan basis in an environment uh that is uh challenging outside of this committee room. and I yield back.
▶ 0:40:23Thank you, Ranking Member Lafrren. We'll now move to witness testimony. Our first witness today is Dr. Drew Endy. Dr. Indie is a science and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution where he leads Hoover's bio strategy and leadership effort. He also researches and teaches bio-engineering at Stanford University. Dr. Indie has served on several national and international bodies related to biocurity, synthetic biology, and emerging technologies. Dr. Dr. Indie holds a PhD in biotechnology and biochemical engineering from Dartmouth. Dr.
▶ 0:40:52Indie, you are recognized for five minutes for your statement. Thank you, Chairman Obernalti, Ranking Member Stevens, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Ross, Chairman Babin, and Ranking Member Lofrren, distinguished members of the House Subcommittees on Energy and on Research and Technology. Thank you for the opportunity to testify uh before you today. Great news. If we want a golden age of innovation, then let's start with a simple observation.
▶ 0:41:20Biology is nature's ultimate innovator. Consider a leaf. These things that grow on trees. What's a leaf? It's a self assembling solar panel that recycles itself. From an engineer's perspective, that's unbelievable. The golden age of bio innovation starts with these unbelievable natural innovations. So what then about biotechnology?
▶ 0:41:46Biotechnology multiplies nature's innovations with human ingenuity that gets us innovation squared. There's no other type of technology that's like this. You build on nature's Dandelions bio-engineered to have roots shaped like carrots so it's easier to farm them for rubber production.
▶ 0:42:12biop-olymers made for helmet visors that protect pilots from lasers coming in. Anything we can learn to encode in DNA, we can grow when and where we need to grow it. Now, how is biotechnology evolved? First, domestication and breeding of plants and animals for farming and food. Second, genetic engineering, now half a century old.
▶ 0:42:41Third, synthetic biology, letting us put biology together in powerful new ways, starting with DNA. These three waves of biotechnology are each amazing, but in the context of innovation, they're overlapping and synergizing. For me, as amazing as biotech is right now, it feels like what I imagine computing felt like in 1975.
▶ 0:43:08Back then we thought computers were mostly big and in rooms without windows. But innovations like packet switching networks, the arpanet and the computer becoming personal were right in front of us. And suddenly computers became connected and all over. The biotic future will be defined not only by what we know, but by new dimensions of strategic innovation, akin to what happened over the last 50 years in computing.
▶ 0:43:38Generative biology. Haven't heard those words yet, but that's what happens when you put AI in front of synthetic biology, fully mature biotechnology. You think you need labs for bioengineering, but that's just because we haven't fully figured out the engineering yet. What happens when bio-engineering just works? that's in front of us. Network biotechnology, a bioet if you will, that lets people access DNA code and download and deploy useful biological solutions to solve local problems.
▶ 0:44:08Pervasive and personal biotechnology. Biotech's just not in tanks only or in big fields over there. Maybe it's around us and on us. Uh bioluminescent patunias are for sale. My kids love them as nightlights. They work really well. Golden Age straight ahead. Not quite. We got two big challenges in my opinion. First, we're at risk of losing this bigger picture that biotech's just more of the same incremental.
▶ 0:44:37Hey, we're going to manage the bio economy for 3% growth next year. Uh-uh. We don't we go down that path, you just miss the big picture. And then the other challenge, as mentioned, China's locked in on biotech for their own reasons. and they've taken an all of nation approach and are steamrolling the field. The latter issue creates significant risks and for reasons that are important to understand.
▶ 0:45:03Competition in biotechnology is not just a race where if you fall behind, you get to catch up later. It's a race where when you get a lead, you get to accelerate Competition in biotechnology also involves one-time winner take all accomplishments. What do I mean by this? How about a Sputnik moment for biotechnology? Well, that would be constructing a simple cell.
▶ 0:45:31How about a Unix moment for biotechnology? Well, that would be an operating system for life that makes it easy to bio-engineer. How about biotechnologies PC moment? Well, that would be reliable local production of anything encoded. You've heard of the PC. How about the PB? I tell my students, maybe somebody should start a company called Banana to follow Apple, if you get my drift. How about biotech chat GPT moment?
▶ 0:45:57Large language models that enable all to access whatever DNA they want. The key, as mentioned, is to invest in the foundations. If we win, we get a safe, secure, and flourishing America fully powered by biotech. The economic promise is up to $30 trillion by mid-century. How much is that worth in terms of upfront innovation investment? Let's get at it. Thank you very much. I look forward to your questions. Thank you, Dr. Andy.
▶ 0:46:26Our next witness is Miss Deborah Gracio. Miss Gracio is the associate laboratory director of national security at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She previously served as the chief operating officer of national security at PNNL. Miss Gracio has also held various leadership and advisory roles across national labs, academic institutions, and professional organizations. Miss Gracio holds an MS and a BS in electrical engineering from Washington State University. Miss Gracio, you're recognized for five minutes for your testimony. Thank you.
▶ 0:46:56Good morning, Chairman Weber, Chairman Obernolulti, Ranking Member Ross, Ranking Member Stevens, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Deb Gracio and I'm the associate laboratory director for national security directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In this role, I oversee a staff of overund over 1700 professionals who are focused on using our scientific capabilities to address some of our nation's most challenging and complex problems in national security.
▶ 0:47:23The report published by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology provides an excellent overview of the current state of US biotechnology and an urgent warning about what will happen if we continue to fall behind in biotechnology innovation. The recommendations in in this report although focused on biotechnology are consistent with the findings in the most recent national defense strategy and the annual threat assessment from the US intelligence community.
▶ 0:47:47These reports highlight that China is using a whole of government approach to become a global leader in bioscience and biotechnology with significant implications to agriculture, medicine, manufacturing, the economy, and ultimately our national security. The DOE national laboratories have a long history of integrating cutting edge science and national security. It was gratifying to see the role of the labs and our deep expertise in biotechnology called out in this report.
▶ 0:48:13The national laboratories stand ready to serve the nation to develop the most promising innovations and address the most challenging problems we face today and into the future. The current revolution in biotechnology has been enabled by a convergence of disciplines. Biology, computing, and data science. Three areas where the department of energy and the national labs are exceptionally strong.
▶ 0:48:34For the past three decades, DOE's Office of Science, Biological, and Environmental Research Programs, BEER for short, have focused on furthering a predictive understanding of complex biological systems through a combination of experiment, advanced computing, and data analytics.
▶ 0:48:48BER supported research has been foundational to advances in biotechnology as have the DOE's flagship scientific user facilities such as the joint genome institute at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory providing DNA sequencing technologies to industry and academia the environmental molecular sciences laboratory at my lab pacific northwest national laboratory which supports the scientific community in their understanding prediction and control of function in biological systems and the leadership class computing facilities at Oakidge and Argon National Laboratories and the national energy scient scientific computing
▶ 0:49:18facility at Lawrence Berkeley. All supported by the DOE office of advanced scientific computing research. Technologies developed by at the DOE laboratories and user facilities are driving biotechnology advancements to the US-based companies through commercialization and licensing. For example, from 2007 to today, the DOE bio energy research centers have generated more than 1,000 innovation inventions, generated 300 patents, and spawned more than two dozen startup companies.
▶ 0:49:46Through funding from BER, researchers in MIL are developing a high throughput automated biological characterization capability that allows us to quickly and systematically understand and harness microbial systems to produce valuable chemicals, materials, and fuels. This automated capability leverages technologies for precisely measuring biological molecules and it was transitioned to commercial industry over a decade ago.
▶ 0:50:09Data is one of the greatest currencies of our scientific economy and the bio energy research centers MIL and the joint genome institute and other DEI supported user facilities and projects generate massive amounts of data. This data can be used as the foundation for the web of biological data recommended by the report. As an as autonomous laboratories accelerate the rate at which data is generated, AI will create new opportunities for data exploration and discovery.
▶ 0:50:35The report recognized biological data as a strategic resource that requires both standards and security. Accomplishing these outcomes will require new security models, advanced data science, and techniques to federate data across networks of systems. These advanced data technologies are necessary to mine the vast data sources to accelerate the discovery and translation of biological systems to useful technological outcomes. Working in national security, I particularly valued the emphasis that the report placed on security.
▶ 0:51:04The national laboratories welcome the opportunity to help define new protection mechanisms for biotechnology data and to utilize a systemsbased approach to understand and mitigate the risks of technology weaponization. We also understand the importance of ensuring that the nation realizes the benefit of technology. DOE has a track record of promoting open innovation while building secure systems to protect sensitive and classified information, performing analyses to understand potential adverse or unintended consequences.
▶ 0:51:32Collaboration with the broader scientific community is critical to achieving broad advancements in The national laboratories are well-versed in adapting these advancements in support of other federal agency's mission in biodetection and biod defense. As the commission report emphasizes, the United States cannot afford to lose the biotechnology revolution. Research sponsored by DOE and performed at the DOE national laboratories has been fundamental to biotechnology innovation for decades and will be a critical tool for securing our future competitiveness.
▶ 0:52:03The commission reports recommendations to expand biotechnology research at Duey National Laboratories and to utilize the laboratories to develop mitigations for biotechnology risks and to counter its weaponization are prudent and timely. We welcome the opportunity to continue to assist in these important areas. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, Miss Gracio. Our next witness is Dr. Dr.
▶ 0:52:27Steven Tekman, an associate professor of environmental microbiology in the department of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University. He is also the associate director of the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Tech. Dr. Tekman holds a PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the Institute for Marine and Environmental Technology. Dr. Tman, you're recognized for five minutes.
▶ 0:52:49First, thank you, Chairman Ober Overberi, Chairman Weber, and Chairman Babin, as well as Ranking Member Stevens, Ranking Member Ross, and Ranking Member Lofrren, and the rest of the committee for the opportunity to testify before you today. I'm Steve Techman, an associate professor of environmental microbiology and an associate director of the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University. Founded in 1885, Michigan Tech's authorizing statute charges the university to promote the welfare of industry.
▶ 0:53:17At Michigan Tech, my lab aims to harness the power of biology to develop biotechnological solutions to many challenges facing society today. In a drop of water or a teaspoon of soil, there are millions of microbial cells representing thousands of microbial species. These diverse and ubiquitous microorganisms perform many chemical reactions that are of interest in We're now able to harness these biological catalysts to more efficiently create products, break down pollutants, and improve manufacturing.
▶ 0:53:48My colleagues and I are exploring fundamental principles that govern the behavior of these microorganisms and how to apply those to develop industrial processes that can benefit society. My colleagues and I have been working on several projects aiming to use microbial biotechnology to convert waist streams into valuable products.
▶ 0:54:06One such example that my research group has been working on is a project funded by DARPA and other federal agencies to contribute to tackling the problem of excess plastic waste by developing biological methods for converting mixed plastic waste into high value products such as petroleum lubricants and even food. We've taken packaging material from meals ready to eat or MREs and successfully converted them into pyrolysis gas which can be used as a fuel lubricants and even edible protein powder.
▶ 0:54:34Rather than burning this waste in the field, we now have the be the ability to convert these wastes into valuable products where they're needed. In addition to technology for waste to chemical production, biology can also be used in recovery of critical minerals. My research group is collaborating with others at Michigan Tech on projects that use microbial communities derived from natural settings for recovery of critical minerals from low-grade ores.
▶ 0:54:58Picture the ability to take waste from an old mine and use a microbial community to extract high value high purity minerals. The renewable nature of biology makes biomining an appealing emerging biotechnology. These are just some examples of the ways that biotechnology has the potential to advance manufacturing and provide solutions to complex problems. The university has a key role to play in advancing biotechnology in the bioeconomy.
▶ 0:55:24That role is both in training the future biotechnology workforce as well as research that provides fundamental knowledge that's applied to solving real world problems. This mindset is core to the DNA of Michigan Tech. The mission tech is charged with advancing knowledge that's applicable. This mission reaches back to our enabling legislation in 1885 which charged us to explore the application of science to industry and to promote the welfare and indust of the industries of the state.
▶ 0:55:51In order to engineer biology for biotechnology, we need to know how biology works at a very basic level. We need to view fundamental research as an investment in applied research. Further investment in basic science enables biotechnological advances. Many of the projects that I'm working on as well as colleagues are fundamental research. We're seeking to gain deep insights into how microorganisms and microbial communities function.
▶ 0:56:17But this information sets the stage for us to be able to then engineer these systems to improve their operation and work to scale these processes to the point that they can be transitioned to those that might be interested in using this technology. We also need to continue to to create ecosystems where basic research is used to address societal needs. And then there are pathways for transitioning that technology rapidly to market.
▶ 0:56:39This close relationship between basic science and application in university biotechnology research not only advances science but also derisks technologies on their way to commercialization. We're rapidly gaining insights into how to engineer and use biology for an incredible number of applications. Robust basic science leading to advanced biotechnology will enable America to continue to be a leader in emerging biotechnology. Thank you so much for having me here today and I look forward to answering questions. Thank you Dr. Tuckman.
▶ 0:57:09Our final witness today is Dr. Kelvin Lee. Dr. Lee serves as the director of the National Institute for Innovation and Manufacturing Bioart Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lee is also the Gore Professor of Chemical and Biom Molecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. He has held several academic and leadership roles in biotechnology across top institutions and has received numerous honors for his contribution to the field. Dr. Lee holds a PhD in chemical engineering from Caltech.
▶ 0:57:36And as a fellow Caltech alum, let me opine that we are underrepresented here on Capitol Hill. Dr. Lee, you are recognized for five minutes for your testimony. Thank you. Chairs Babin, Overlene, Weber, and ranking members Lorren, Stevens, and Ross, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Good morning. I'm honored to be here today. My name is Kelvin Lee, institute director at Nimble, the National Institute for Innovation and Manufacturing Biioharmaceuticals, a commerce NIST sponsored manufacturing innovation institute, one of 18 in the manufacturing USA network.
▶ 0:58:06Nimble is a public private partnership focused on biioharmaceutical manufacturing innovation, the technologies and workforce needed to leverage the power of biology to make life-saving medicines. Nimble derrisks biio manufacturing innovations by partnering industry stakeholders large and small with academics and federal scientists to collaboratively innovate while also building a US biio manufacturing workforce. While the US is considered a research leader in biioarma, we have not successfully captured enough of the benefits of domestic manufacturing.
▶ 0:58:35US biioarma manufacturing productivity was 40% lower in 2020 than in 2006, a bigger drop than any other manufacturing sector. Manufacturing has been central to America's economic power and national security. But over the past two decades, we've lost our leadership position, especially in advanced manufacturing. In 1980, the US manufactured over 40% of global high-tech goods. Today, only 18%. We invent things here, but then they're made elsewhere and imported.
▶ 0:59:01Unfortunately, our history is marked by initial leadership in advanced industries only to subsequently lose our competitive advantage to other countries with more effective industrial policy. telecom, semiconductors, solar panels, just to name a few. We must act now to preserve and advance our position in biotech and compete with others that are pursuing strategic approaches to technoeconomic leadership. By way of an analogy, it's as if we're getting ready for the football season knowing that the team that wins the championship is going to have decades of security, power, wealth, and prosperity.
▶ 0:59:31We need to act now to be ready for the competition ahead of us. Today we lead in only seven out of 64 critical technologies whereas two decades ago we led in 60 out of 64. We need policies that provide significant investments or risk being dominated in these fields including biotechnology. It's like in the quest to win that football championship. The competitor is already fielding one of the strongest teams with a proven playbook and a deep bench of great players and coaches that already outperform others. The US has been a leader in basic life science research.
▶ 1:00:00For example, leading the human genome project. Our science agencies support foundational work that fuels the innovation pipeline. These early investments and the subsequent products created have led to decades of prosperity and security. It's as if our team certainly has had success in the past. However, as the NCEB report highlights, our innovation edge is eroding. My written testimony includes several measures that indicate we are behind in the quality and quantity of biotech R&D.
▶ 1:00:26Highly cited research publications, patents, workforce R&D laboratories, clinical trials, and so on. One investment bank predicts that China will dominate the generation of new medicines for cancer and autoimmune disease. It's as if our competitor is running more plays and scoring more touchdowns than us. We must increase the investment in basic research to grow the pipeline of discoveries that turn into products essential for our security and prosperity. These investments will also create the skilled workforce needed to be a global leader.
▶ 1:00:52We can't expect to have that winning team without solid draft picks, training camp, and a strong start to every game. Many promising innovations fail to reach the market because they can't cross the so-called valley of death. Failure not because they lack merit, but because they lack support. Federal programs such as the manufacturing USA program accelerate the translation of research through scale up and commercialization. A team, after all, can't expect to win without investing in some experienced veterans, coaches, and a culture of playing the second half strong of every game. So, what's to be done to recapture US leadership and biotech?
▶ 1:01:22We must ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to biotech activities within the government. Biotech cuts across agency missions. It's We need a quarterback. We must significantly increase federal support for basic research to strengthen our pipeline leading to products prosperity and our protection. Our investment will also help us shape global standards and ensure we are a destination for talent. We can't win without great players.
▶ 1:01:43We must increase support for technology scaleup initiatives and invest in the creation of scaleup demonstration facilities to accelerate innovation and leverage the unique strengths of our public and our private sectors. We need strengthened training facilities effectively to ensure that our players can finish each game strong. We must invest in a range of workforce development programs from bluecollar STEM jobs and manufacturing to white collar STEM jobs and research to ensure that we have the needed talent pool. Everyone on our team has to be prepared to execute their role.
▶ 1:02:12We must secure and protect our biotech supply chains to ensure resilience in times of crisis and conflict. We can't rely on the other team's equipment manager for our cleats and shoes. Thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective. Our history as biotech leaders was achieved through research investment, academic industry partnerships, a dedicated workforce, and a great innovation system. However, technologies are advancing and the world is changing. As Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame head coach said, "If you don't change with the times, the times are going to change you.
▶ 1:02:41Or as the NCEB report noted, countries that win the innovation race tend to win actual wars, too." Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Lee. Appreciate all the football analogies. We'll now move on to questions from the panel. We'll start by recognizing myself for five minutes. Uh Miss Gracio, I'd like to start with you. Uh I was honored to chair last year the House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.
▶ 1:03:06And uh the one of the things that we were most concerned about is putting in place some regulatory structure to protect Americans against the malicious use of AI. And there are few of those malicious uses that are more concerning than those in biotech.
▶ 1:03:24So on the one hand, we have a situation where uh we're in an exciting time of innovation where AI is going to be trained on DNA and molecules in the same way that we're training today on large language models and language and it's going to democratize access to a lot of the ability to do this bioengineering. But on the other hand, in the wrong hands, that could really lead to some disastrous consequences in terms of biotech and its impact on uh Americans.
▶ 1:03:52So, how would you suggest we best protect against those risks while still allowing the use of AI to make innovation and biotechnology thrive? Thank you, Chairman Obernolce. Uh AI is the biggest advancement we've had in many generations and the standards and the regulatory actions that are being put in place could hinder the access and the ability to move AI forward.
▶ 1:04:18But at the same time, we need to build guard rails that help us understand how AI can be used to make changes. And when used now for as you said democratizing access to the biotechnology capabilities, it's critically important we understand the dual use that biotechnology can have in this world.
▶ 1:04:36And so understanding what those guard rails are, what the the unintended consequences could be of these biotechnologies will be a critical part of leveraging AI in developing and manufacturing new generations of the dual dual use is a critical component of the national security piece here and so understanding how those would the unintended consequences or the uh abnormal behaviors that can be created. Uh thank you. Uh Dr. Endy, I had a question for you.
▶ 1:05:06I was very interested in your testimony to hear you say that uh biotech today feels like computing did in 1975. And the reason why I found that very interesting is that 1975 was really, you know, pre- internet. That was when computing was a technological curiosity. It hadn't even been democratized. You didn't have home computers yet. It was something that was done only in academic settings.
▶ 1:05:30And at that time, we couldn't really even envision the changes that computing and the internet were going to bring to society. Uh, I mean there was a study done last year in graduating high school seniors that asked them the number one career field that they aspired to and the number one career field for graduating seniors last year was uh social media influencer.
▶ 1:05:53And so uh not talking for a moment about the disturbing things that says about our society you know I'm I'm struck like how you would even articulate what a social media influencer was and what one did in 1975. So can you talk about biotechnology if if this is 1975 in biotech terms like what are the transformative effects on society and our economy that biotechnology is going to bring in the next few years? Last year thank you for your question.
▶ 1:06:23Last year I had uh three bio-engineered organisms arrive at my house not as a researcher but as an American as a consumer. I bought them off the internet. One was a bioluminescent patunia grown in Michigan. The other was a tomato that expresses genes from a blueberry to make lots of antioxidants. So maybe you have a lower chance of getting cancer as the first time I grew tomatoes.
▶ 1:06:51And then the last one was a little probiotic microbe. It's got 4.4 stars on Amazon that you're supposed to drink before you drink so you're less likely to get a hangover. And I I didn't try that, but it's in the kitchen. Um, and and so, you know, when I'm imagining, it's like 1975. It's not that I'm just imagining. It's because on the front lines of bio-engineering, we're having these new experiences.
▶ 1:07:16The impact of those bioluminescent patunias on our children was it made them think biotechnology was cool, that it was okay. And that was different than what they had learned in Palo Alto Elementary School where they had learned that GMOs were evil. It was only by having a firsthand experience of working with biotechnology that they could see it in a new light. Well, thank you very much.
▶ 1:07:39And let me just uh suggest that in the interest of science, I think you're obligated to try the hangover microbe. I see that I'm out of time. Uh we'll submit my remaining questions for the records. Uh we'll go to uh the ranking member, Congresswoman Stevens, for five minutes for her questions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and again, Dr.
▶ 1:07:59Uh, Techcman, thank you for for being here to represent the important work that uh, Michigan Technological University is doing and your laboratory uh, which is at the forefront of several intriguing and practical uses of biotech to solve many of the issues facing Michiganders in our Great Lakes. And do I have it right that the the name of your laboratory is the Great Lakes Research Center? That's one of the the broader research centers on campus.
▶ 1:08:28It's an interdisciplinary center that I am one of the associate directors of. Well, we interdisciplinary you, you know, here in in Congress because we always push inter agency activities and we are glad to see that you are continuing to put Michigan Tech on the cutting edge of practical biotech solutions. So, I've got a couple questions.
▶ 1:08:51uh one is the co-chair I'm the co-chair of both the manufacturing caucus and the recycling caucus and you know I understand the the role that plastics play in our domestic supply chain I think you know all of us see that we've got durability and low cost and plastic injection molding you know particularly throughout our automotive sector um but we also recognize that there are some real challenges um that we we face with not just plastic
▶ 1:09:21waste solution, but the breakdown of the particles that are going into our air. Uh we're dealing with nano plastics in addition to microlastics. And I'm not one of these ones to demonize an industry, but we're we're constantly looking for for new and and and better ways to to live to our full health. So, can can you speak to any work that you've been doing to in biotech to to work on this? Yeah.
▶ 1:09:49So, a lot of the work that we have done has been focused on how do we take plastics and turn them into valuable products to try to incentivize uh reusing them and develop novel solutions for recycling plastics. But at the same time, I think there's a lot of other work that's going on and we're beginning to contribute to that work on how do we find replacements of plastics such as bioplastics that are produced by a number of organisms.
▶ 1:10:12And biotechnology allows us to take a lot of different waist streams and then use that to create these bioplastics that then could serve as a replacement um or in addition to many of the current conventional plastics that we use and and just by way of personal privilege and edification. A lot of times people get possessed by just the the singleuse plastics. We've seen this with straws or bottles. I mean plastic's in our clothes. It's it's on the furniture we sit on.
▶ 1:10:38It is, you know, surrounding our entire built environment. And so extreme language around banning of plastic or taxing resin is actually, you know, similar to what we're dealing with with these erratic shoot by the hip, uh, change by the minute tariffs coming down from this administration where the consumers just can't continue to bear such extreme costs.
▶ 1:11:01But what we can look at are, you know, new biotech solutions to advance and grow our, you know, uh, our available composits that keep costs low. And then of course on critical minerals which I just love what you're working on and really am eager to use my perch here in the Congress to lift up and continue to pass legislations that allow us uh uh to lessen our dependence on the Chinese Communist Party with regards to critical rare earth um
▶ 1:11:32minerals. And I was on the select committees uh for China competitiveness. I was on our working group on critical minerals last term. But I'd love to give you just another minute or so to share what you've been working on in this space. You touched on it in your hearing. Uh but that this is of note and fascination for us here. Yeah.
▶ 1:11:51So a lot of the work that we're doing now is trying to take uh waste from mines, mine tailings that still have residual minerals in them and then use biology as a way of extracting those minerals uh in a way that really requires very little energy or chemical inputs. And then what you're left with is solutions that contain these minerals that have been leeched out of ores that are really of no commercial need.
▶ 1:12:14Um we also have other projects where we're working on plants as a tool for mining where you can plant a field of uh of plants that will then extract those minerals from low-grade soils or or even ores as a way of recovering minerals. And again, it's a process that's not far from being commercialized. Um, but it's an exciting way of recovering these uh necessary elements uh using the incredible abilities that biology has to either uh leech minerals or naturally extract them from the Okay.
▶ 1:12:45I'm applying for an apprenticeship. I mean that that that's just remarkable. And I assume you're using or accessing mines that are located by campus. Is that right? Yeah. So for one of our projects, it's uh number of the mines that are no longer functional that are near campus and another one we're also working with uh local mines in the UP that are giving us some of their tailings to test some of these technologies. Yeah. Fabulous. Well, thank you so much. And Mr. Chair, I yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from the gentleoman from South Carolina, Miss Biggs.
▶ 1:13:14You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important hearing. And I would like to thank each of the witnesses for offering their testimony today. So biotechnology will be a foundational area of science in the 21st century and beyond. It has the potential to revolutionize health care, farming, genetics, and much more. However, as Dr.
▶ 1:13:40Indie noted in his testimony, the CCP has made biotechnology a priority area of research for two decades. So I would like to offer my question to you, Dr. Indie. Since 2012, Xi Jinping has made biotechnology a frontier field integral to China's military civil fusion strategy.
▶ 1:14:05Can you describe how civilian biotech advances especially in genomics, gene editing, and synthetic biology flow directly into the people's liberation army research? Thank you for your question. I frame how China approaches biotechnology not only as military civil fusion but all of nation which is even more powerful.
▶ 1:14:34Um what that looks like is uh full-on investment and support for education, for research, for entrepreneurship and for translation to full-scale manufacturing. So when you think about military capabilities, military capabilities are dependent upon the broader capabilities of a nation. Where do the people come to staff the factories? You know, what capabilities do you have on shore and so on.
▶ 1:14:59And so you can't tease apart a nation's biocapacity, if you will, from biocurity and and military. Um, as biology becomes a general purpose technology, anything we learn to encode in DNA can be grown. So it's not just medicines, foods, and fuels. It's other stuff like what? Energetics, right? Um, electrical components, electronics, codings.
▶ 1:15:27Um, it's hard to overstate how many possibilities arrive when you can use biology to organize atoms with atomic precision. There's a whole category of material science that hasn't even been tapped into yet. So, there's both um uh concerns that I think manifest in the current moment and then when you look forward in terms of innovation, a whole host of technical ambiguities that will create strategic surprise or risk. Thank you.
▶ 1:15:55And to kind of piggyback on that, what civilian firms and research research institutes serve as primary conduits and what risk do they pose to US national security?
▶ 1:16:12I'd be hesitant to talk uh specifically uh uh but I'll give you an example of something uh that that I've observed recently um that's that's more in the Um, so it's not just explicit uh uh capabilities and and power we're talking about here. It's also coordination power and soft power. The gem competition I helped start 20 years ago relies on an open-source kit of DNA parts.
▶ 1:16:40Um, our ability to manufacture those parts in the United States has dropped off due to challenges in funding and the state of the private sector. This year for the first time the manufacturing of those parts took place in Shenzhen. So the global distribution of open source DNA content GitHub if you will for DNA code designed all over the world starting in America. It's made in Shenzhen and simply because we don't have the capacity to resource it right now. Thank you.
▶ 1:17:09And I yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll go next to the ranking member from North Carolina, Congresswoman Rash. are recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you, Chairman Obernolulti. Um, as I said before, I represent part of the research triangle and we are already seeing the effects of the Trump administration withholding money that was appropriated by Congress for the sciences and for
▶ 1:17:40biotechnology. As a matter of fact, there have been a series of lawsuits to get that appropriated money restored. When I had the round table that I talked about, people talked about clinical trials, experiments that are just being graduate students who cannot finish their course of study and may be moving back to their home
▶ 1:18:10countries. I've also in my district had protesting literally protests. My favorite sign, we we talked a little bit about signs here, um was it's so bad introverts are protesting and the scientists have come with, you know, people from their labs.
▶ 1:18:33So, we can talk about the future, but I really would like to talk about how we capture that money that has not yet gone into the projects that have counted on it that has kept private investment from further investing in some of those positive projects and retaining that talent. And so, Dr.
▶ 1:19:02Lee, I' I'd like to address that first to you and then to Miss Gracia. Well, thank you uh for that question and and I I think one of the challenges um that scientists have if I generalize is we we don't spend enough time thinking about uh how we can best communicate with uh the public about what we do and why it's important.
▶ 1:19:25uh and I and I think that is uh part of the root cause of the issue and I think the more we can inform uh and engage with the public at large I think the better the chances that there's a broader understanding of the importance of some of these efforts and these agencies.
▶ 1:19:40If I just take NIST as an example, uh, which is within the committee's jurisdiction, you know, NIST, um, countless aspects of society, uh, depend on NIST because they depend on accurate measurements of something, whether you're buying a gallon of gas or a bag of potato chips or getting your cholesterol measured or buying a smoke alarm to make sure it goes off at the right time and and not when it's not, or keeping the time, right, which also is used in GPS and cell phone technology and so on. NIST is the agency that's behind all of that.
▶ 1:20:10You don't see the NIST logo on on the gas pump, but they are the agency that underpins that and they give confidence to businesses that businesses can function and they give confidence um indirectly to consumers that consumers can rely on the products or get that gallon of gas instead of a half gallon of gas when you fill your your tank. So I think what happens if you see reductions in an agency like NIST? Well, then it starts to eat away at our ability to function as society.
▶ 1:20:37You have companies that might lose confidence in doing business in the US. You might have consumers that would lose confidence in the goods and services they're trying to get uh from those companies and our technological underpinnings of society keeping the time for example. Um and our cyber in infrastructure they start to become weakened and I think it's really important that we continue to make those investments.
▶ 1:20:59We want to not only have that infrastructure, we also want to drive some of the global standards in this space so that the standards that are established internationally uh favor uh an open society and not just products from a particular nation. Okay, Miss thank you for the question. So, I'm going to maintain my answer focused on the Department of Energy National Laboratories. The federal government really plays a crucial role in supporting the role of innovation.
▶ 1:21:28The high-risk highreward research is done in the national labs based upon infrastructure that lays the groundwork for innovation within private industry. Uh the national labs take on the early stage activities high-risisk that breaks down the barriers to innovation setting the stage for uh private companies to translate fundamental scientific discoveries basic research as you were talking about earlier into new technologies.
▶ 1:21:52DOE supports those user facilities, those high performance computing capabilities and resources to provide unique largescale access to infrastructure that may not be provided or accessible by private industry. That public private partnership is critical and the sustainment of investments to the basic research is a critical component to invading for biotechnology of the future. Without the public private partnership and I I want to comment on Dr. 's perspective in terms of communication.
▶ 1:22:20It is a critical aspect that we get the information out so that private industry can leverage what's being done in the national labs and they understand the basic sciences and at the same time we have to understand what the consequences are of the potential capabilities that are being developed. So we understand how to prevent create counter measures for uh different activities that could be used in an adversarial way. Thank you. and we also need to communicate that to the administration. I yield back.
▶ 1:22:50Gentleman yields back. We'll go next to the representative from Colorado, Mr. Herd. You're recognized for five minutes. Thank you to our chairs and ranking members for the opportunity to participate in today's hearing and ask a few questions. Uh Dr. Techman, I found your work on distributed biio manufacturing from food to fuel. Fascinating. Can you talk about the primary barriers to commercializing these technologies at scale particularly in austere or disaster struck Yeah, thank you for that question.
▶ 1:23:17Um, I think I think there's a lot of advances that have happened in distributed biio manufacturing that makes this possible. I think part of what uh some of the challenges are how we move from the very sterile lab environment that you might have uh say in a manufacturing facility to a field forward or austere environment.
▶ 1:23:36So part of that is how do we make sure the biology is robust and how do we uh create systems such as the bioreactors and other tools that can handle operating under that low power uh uh low resource environments. And so I think there's a lot of advances and we're very close to being able to do that. But part of that is uh both better engineering the biology to be robust and then making sure that we have the engineered systems to be able to operate in an autonomous manner. Great.
▶ 1:24:06Thank you. Uh Dr. Indie, one of the institutions of higher learning that I'm particularly proud of in my home state is a Cardo School of Minds and I understand that at the school researchers are looking at the potential for DNA to serve as a long-term data storage medium by synthesizing nucleioases and base pairs. Can you talk about the pros and cons of DNA for data storage and any of the technological hurdles that stand in the way of its adoption? Thank you for the question.
▶ 1:24:32Um, the idea that you could use DNA to store data sounded strange to me at first. Um, and uh, I I kind of kept it in that corner until the university librarian came over one day, super excited about it. We want to put the library into DNA and I said, "You're crazy.
▶ 1:24:52It costs $10,000 a megabyte and takes a month to code digital data into DNA by synthesizing DNA." And he said, 'You don't you don't have any idea about the library, do you? And I said, 'I admitted I hadn't been to the library and um it's all online. And he said, 'We have to we have to keep books around and we struggle to move our archives into digital formats because we have no confidence that the digital formats will be readable in the future.
▶ 1:25:22And so when we look out one decade, two decades, five decades, right, the only thing we have confidence in being able to read out in digital format is DNA. It solves our long-term strategy for storing data. Mind-blowing to me.
▶ 1:25:39So um uh last year one of the things we did as an example was we took the telegraph that President Hoover sent back to Stanford to create the Hoover archive and we digitized it and we worked with a company called Twist to synthesize DNA to I didn't know you were going to ask me this question. Uh um to synthesize DNA encoding the digital copy of the telegraph that President Hoover sent and it's right here.
▶ 1:26:03Um and and we were one of the first customers, if you will, of this new naent commercial service. It's just getting going. It's not ready off the shelf to go to market. It probably would require about a quarter billion dollars of investment in R&D to make this a reliable data storage service. And the DNA data storage alliance is the industry group working to make that happen. One of the most exciting things I know about in the federal government is the Library of Congress is experimenting with this.
▶ 1:26:34And I hope that next year on the anniversary of 1776, they'll have some of the nation's digital treasures encoded in DNA in the library for all of us to take a look at. And this DNA storage shed technology medium would last for thousands of years conceivably. The the way it works is just DNA is not alive in this case, just a polymer, just a tape. You put it in the dark and it's dry and it's stable for about a thousand years in this format.
▶ 1:27:00And what's the reason for So you have the adinine, guanine, thamine, cytosine. I'm going back to biology. There's some synthetic ones as well. What is the purpose of those in in the DNA? Um, yeah, most most most natural and bio-engineered living systems are encoded with four bases, but there's been incredible work in chemistry to expand the genetic code to six or eight bases. Um, many different reasons to think about doing that.
▶ 1:27:26One of them is it gives you a bigger alphabet for making more interesting proteins. Uh, if you have more options at the DNA level, you can encode more options at the protein level. Just gets us access to more and more chemistry. That's fascinating. U, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And with that, I yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from the ranking member of the full committee, my my colleague from California, Miss Laughrin. You are recognized for five minutes. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:27:54Uh, President Trump proposed an NSF budget of roughly 3.9 billion for fiscal year 2026, which is a 5.1 billion and change cut uh relative to 2024 levels. A 20 55% cut is what's being proposed.
▶ 1:28:18Um this was a very large um reduction to funding for research, education and infrastructure related to biotechnology. Uh it includes over a hundred million dollars in cuts for cross agency biotechnology activities relative to the 2024 funding levels. Uh Dr.
▶ 1:28:42Andy, as you know, the funding levels proposed by the administration does not match the commission's recommendation of $15 billion over the next 5 years to foster biotechnology. What are we going to lose uh if this funding is not realized? Can we actually create the US bio economy based on these cuts? And I'm mindful of Chairman Babin's uh admonition at the start of this that the the budget is a proposal.
▶ 1:29:11it's not what's in place. Uh, but if you could give us some insight on that, it would I think it would help us. Thank you for your question. Uh, the commission's report and what it calls for presumes that the budget's flat, that we're not cutting the budget. So, I just want to note that. And when I read this report and saw the initial number that they were putting forward of 15, that was too low in my opinion.
▶ 1:29:36As good as this is, I don't think what's recommended here is resourced enough to get the job done. So, you know, it depends on what our uh goal is. If our goal is to compete and win, I think we heard from Dr. Lee, we've got to resource the whole team. And uh it would take much too long to detail all the things we're at risk of losing. Uh but but you know, I appreciate that we have to explain to everybody why this is important and critically important.
▶ 1:30:07It's not easy to do that. Um I'm not here as a scientist telling you this. I'm here as an American who grew up near Valley Forge telling you this. Like we got to figure this out. And um you know, otherwise I don't like our chances, right? You know, I I do think the making people understand what's happening is important in order to get the public attention and imagination.
▶ 1:30:31I was interested in chairman Olbernot's comment about the state of computing in 1975 and it reminded me as an undergraduate at Stanford before 1975 in the 70s I was you know I had a scholarship for tuition but I had to do work for room and board and books and I was doing essentially clerical tasks over in the communications department and we were sending things to UCLA and I realized it wasn't a facts actually
▶ 1:31:01it was the internet but I didn't know what it was and so I think if we had articulated that in a more thoughtful way earlier we would have made quicker progress uh than we did and we would have benefited from that. I'm wondering um your thoughts on how we might I mean when I went to the lab it blew my mind. It was wonderful and Mr. Chairman, I hope we can all go because it is it is a fabulous experience.
▶ 1:31:32But how do we explain that to the public? Because we have an opportunity here that is really beyond belief and yet no one knows about it. What's going to make the bioeconomy American? Is it only that the jobs and money and the factories will be in the 50 states? Or is it more than that? Is it about the terms and conditions, the culture that surrounds biotechnology? An American bioeconomy, in other words, should not only be about life, medicine, food, fuel.
▶ 1:32:02It should also be about liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Right? Now, what does that mean? It means that everybody, it's not that we're explaining science. You don't want to do science explaining, right? We want to give people the option of learning about biology, of accessing biotechnology. My favorite idea in this regard is a recent proposal called libraries. If you take the word library and you change the first letter I to the letter A, you get a new word called library. And you get to invent a new profession, the librarian.
▶ 1:32:33I hope there's a librarian of Congress someday. But imagine what the Carnegie Foundation did over a century ago, seeing thousands of public libraries all over the country coming forward to help everybody gain access to knowledge and the benefits of knowledge. Let's rerun that type of playbook, but for science, starting with biology. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I I think there is so much hope here that we need to be able to communicate to the American public. I yield back. Gentleman yields back.
▶ 1:33:01We'll go next to the representative from Indiana, Mr. Barrett. And on the topic of birthdays, Mr. Barrett just celebrated his 80th yesterday. Congratulations. You're recognized for five minutes. You've talked too much, Mr. Chairman. You know, but thank you for that. and thank you for the opportunity.
▶ 1:33:18You know, I always appreciate the things that we learn in the science committee and having witnesses like you share with us your perspective because I think there's some really interesting times occurring and uh representative really knows well the impact of AI and um and the that kind of technology is going to have on our on our nation and our industries. But uh the question I have, I'm going to start Dr.
▶ 1:33:47Lee uh deals with the fact that this one big beautiful bill that we've been talking about and we recently passed um it does include R&D tax credits and that seeks to restore the ability of businesses to immediately deduct 100% of their domestic R&D expenses and this provides incentives and supports expansion of new production factories and growing oper operations in America.
▶ 1:34:13So can you speak to how this tax credit benefit America's leadership in bio Oh, thank you for the question and happy birthday. Um I I actually think R&D tax credits are are a really great opportunity to pursue in terms of thinking about uh where these technology- based industries whether it's biotech or other advanced technologies frankly that are important to the future of our country.
▶ 1:34:37I think programs that create avenues where the private sector is incentivized or has incentives to continue to invest here in America, whether it's research or whether it's building that next manufacturing facility or that specialized uh demonstration facility. I think it's a really important tool that has to be a part of the toolkit that's going to ultimately uh help us um ensure that we maintain and and secure our leadership in this space. Thank you. And then my next my next question goes to Dr.
▶ 1:35:07India and you as well Dr. Lee. But you know uh Dr. Indie I really appreciated your comment about the leaf being the original solar panel and it's biodegradable. So it's really hard sometimes to improve on nature in my opinion. Uh so it's but it's great to have the research capability that we do have.
▶ 1:35:26Uh so so beyond patent and uh citation counts uh what leading indicators should Congress monitor to gauge whether the US is pulling ahead or falling behind in the China biotechnology field? Thank you for your question. I view competition in in in biotechnology again as a layer cake. We're thinking about people teaching and education.
▶ 1:35:51We're thinking about um uh uh entrepreneurship and and translation powered by research and then getting things to actually work in the economy. So if I were wanting to pay careful attention to how the race is going, I'd want to instrument all four layers in that layer cake, measure what's going on. Um when's the last time uh uh an American IM team won the competition over a decade ago? William and Mary. Um how many teams are competing? Uh you and so on.
▶ 1:36:20So, so there's different ways of of of measuring the education layer and and and then um beyond patents and and so on, how many companies do we have in emerging biotechnology that are profitable? That's a good metric. Um the the the the region or nation that gets to profitability in an area of emerging technology has an unbelievable advantage because the nerds who are doing the work have access to a different stream of money.
▶ 1:36:49It's always hard to explain when you're doing something on a frontier and justify why you should be doing the new thing. But if you have that positive economic flywheel and you have a qualitative advantage and that's that's one thing I'm hyper sensitive to if we if we lose the getting to that first in emerging biotech and synthetic biology uh is really a problem. So so again education, research, translation, things working in the economy, I'd want to instrument those four layers. Dr. lead.
▶ 1:37:19Yeah, certainly agree with Dr. Indie on on his remarks. I I would kind of expand on it and share the way I think about it is um kind of early in the value chain and later in the value chain because it's a really hard question. I think it's a really important question because you want to know that whatever investments, whatever changes in policy you're making are going to have the intended effect. Early in the value chain, I think about discovery. I think about creating that pipeline. And so maybe some of those measures of of publications, patents, etc. come into play.
▶ 1:37:48But there are kind of later phases of that value chain. You might see the creation and and construction of manufacturing facilities in the US. You'll see manufacturing jobs being created as those early discoveries turn into products. But those are lagging indicators. And then ultimately uh you might find uh sort of measures of our international influence and leadership uh in the biotech space uh which is probably lagging even further. But I think uh ultimately an important part of what we should be considering.
▶ 1:38:17So my time's up and I apologize to the other two witnesses. I'd love to have heard your answer, but I yield back. Mr. Chairman, gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from the representative from Oregon, Miss Selenus. You are recognized for five minutes. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you. Thank you to our ranking members and to our witnesses for being here today. Oregon has a strong and growing bioscience industry encompassing over 20,000 workers and almost 2,000 firms in Oregon.
▶ 1:38:42And one of these exciting companies in this space is Twist Bioscience, which is pushing the envelope to accelerate and scale up production of synthetic nucleic acids for use in all kinds of exciting research. And I was pleased to work with Congressman McCormack just a few weeks ago to advance the nucleic acid screening for biocurity act, which would directness um to improve risk management strategies for these types of tools. The NCSB report included a few recommendations around biocurity.
▶ 1:39:11I'd like to um just expand on this. In your opinions, what are the most important areas for Congress to focus on to make sure that we can minimize risks while maintaining open research and collaboration to any of the panelists? So there's um some very important components in terms of sustaining the biocurity comp uh ecosystem.
▶ 1:39:38we have understanding the vast amount of data and being able to access that data so that that uh the scientists and the researchers and the the commercial industry can make use of that data but how do we protect that data we have to put protections around the data we have to create the security mechanisms so that we have the research security that is needed whether it's in the lab whether it's in the the commercial industry we have to protect from espionage we have to protect from IP we have IP protections on all of those that we have to accomplish as well but innovation is critical and
▶ 1:40:08when we share our information, we gain a lot more than we're going to lose. And so we have to think about the mechanisms in which we can share that data in an effective way with trusted partners and we have to think about how that information can then translate to the manufacturing industry so they can take the information for example that the company you're talking about can translate that into technologies that capability into the technologies and manufacture them to enhance the Thank you. Would anyone else care to respond? Yes, Dr.
▶ 1:40:37Andy, you know, the the DNA in this file was built by Twist. I don't know if it was in their Oregon factory, but but maybe um just to compliment and and add, um if we don't have worldleading capabilities, good luck securing them. Right. Right. Right now, we're blessed to have a company like Twist as a national strategic asset, you know, making a go of it. But the the most recent research papers I read on DNA synthesis are coming out of Shanghai.
▶ 1:41:06promising 10,000fold improvements in our ability to build DNA. So we could have the best recommendations for screening DNA for biocurity but if all of our competitors are using offshore DNA synthesis capabilities doesn't matter. So just remember if we want to secure something we have to be the world leader in it and I is baffling to me we've seen this playbook over and over again you know where's our strategic DNA program right um yeah thank you Dr.
▶ 1:41:38I'll just um quickly say, you know, I think there's uh interesting aspects in the report about the balance between promoting biotech and then protecting biotech and and I think your question gets a bit to that. I I think there's a lot of value in having open standards and having us leadership in the field because we can help establish with our partners around the world what those standards and norms are for sharing.
▶ 1:42:01Um but as we as a community of scientists share and and uh create basic knowledge um that works most effectively when others are also sharing basic knowledge and information because then we can all benefit and we can all develop our own unique capabilities and and products and uh applications from there. So by being in a leadership position on the promoting side of things, we also help set the standards and the norms uh around the protect side and ensuring that uh any sharing is symmetric in nature. Thank you.
▶ 1:42:32All right. I recently toured an innovative company in my district called Canopy. It brings uh new technologies into play to pursue autonomous agriculture. They did everything from propagation to harvest with um autonomous machines. Work like this along with innovative food solutions like lab grown meat can offer all kinds of potential benefits to complement traditional agriculture and help ensure reliable and secure food supply chain for Americans at home and our service members who are stationed abroad.
▶ 1:42:58Often times these enterprises struggle though to make the leap from lab to market. That concerns me particularly given the substantial successes that we've seen of China's top- down approach. Um how can we best deploy public private partnerships in ways that leverage our country's existing strengths to improve our ability toward the effective scaling of biotech and biommanufacturing? One of the things that uh the US government's done a good job on is promoting pilot scale biommanufacturing.
▶ 1:43:27And there's more to do there, but it's good that we're going. Pilot scale means you're you're taking something out of a lab and learning to make it at this intermediate scale, but you got to get to full scale to serve the market. Um, and for every dollar we invest in pilot scale, you might imagine 20 more dollars are going to be needed to make the factory to do full scale. Now, where's all that money going to come from? If we're doing a billion a year in the pilot scale, that means we got to follow with 20, right? I don't want to come here asking for that.
▶ 1:43:54What I'd like to see is private sector being uh encouraged to uh accelerate deployment of capital responsibly using their expertise to help make this happen. The neatest example I've got for you to look into would be a company called Microworks that's operating in South Carolina. They just opened up a hund00 million factory that takes in sawdust and feeds it to mushrooms to make leather-like material. Wow. Right.
▶ 1:44:19And I asked the CEO, "How'd you get $und00 million to build a factory with the cost of capital the way it is?" And one of the things they were able to explore was tax-free bonds at a state level, right? Uh that that allows the private sector to complement the public funds to get more factories built more quickly. So if I look out 15 years, let's imagine, you know, uh, the United States build a thousand hundred million dollar factories for the bioeconomy. That sounds order of magnitude, right?
▶ 1:44:47And and the way to get that capital moving is is going to be these creative public private, you know, solutions, if you will. Thank you. My time is expired. I I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The gentleman yields back. We will hear next from the representative from Utah, Mr. Kennedy. You're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Chairman Obernoli, and thank you to the witnesses. Appreciate you being here. Does seem like a long time when you have to sit here for two hours listening to us ask you questions, but you're doing a great job.
▶ 1:45:14Biotech plays a vital role in Utah's economic growth, as well as public health innovation and scientific advancement. With a rapidly expanding life sciences sector, Utah benefits from worldclass research institutions, a skilled workforce, and a businessfriendly environment that fosters cutting edge developments in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices. Utah ranks third among all states for life sciences employment concentration.
▶ 1:45:38In my district, Halia Therapeutics, a clinical biage biotechnology company, is advancing drug candidates for Alzheimer's disease, mildis, plastic syndrome, and obesity. Halia is also working to crack inflammatory disorders. Utah's all-in support for the industry is also attracting companies like Nusano, whose products will make Utah the epicenter for radioisotope technology used in cancer treatment. And Denali Therapeutics recently completed construction of a 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City.
▶ 1:46:07The first biotech operation of its kind in the state that is developing therapies for neurodeenerative disease and hunter syndrome. Utah's at the forefront of US biotech advances and we need the federal government to serve as partners in fostering continued innovation.
▶ 1:46:22So with that, I also want to make an ancillary note that gain of function research for CO is one of those biotech things we have to be thoughtful of and I'm sure your industries are thoughtful about how do we protect ourselves when there are sinister ways to use biotechnology and you've been outstanding in your advocacy for this. I'll start first with Dr. Lee and a a question.
▶ 1:46:41What are the key regulatory barriers the federal government is uh is putting in your way that we need to break down so that you United States biotech sector has an advantage when we compete with adversaries like Chinese Communist Party. Yeah, thank you for your question. It's it's great to also hear the examples you're sharing um and familiar with some of them as well uh about all the great work happening in Utah.
▶ 1:47:04I I think as as the NCEB report highlights uh you know it's a complicated regulatory landscape uh I mean the examples you gave a lot of them are in the kind of medical countermeasures medicine space it's a very complicated um set of regulations in that space as we think about in applications and environment and and other areas there's other regulations that come into play and I think one of the challenges that companies particularly smaller companies that are trying to grow uh they might have a really promising technology and they may not have uh enough understanding
▶ 1:47:34and awareness of how to traverse what can be a pretty complicated regulatory environment. I think there are opportunities to figure out how can we focus on helping those smaller companies with very innovative technologies grow and be nurtured and supported as they have to try to bring their products and processes and services uh to market. I think there's opportunities there.
▶ 1:47:54I'll I'll highlight that one of the uh recommendations the NCEB report that uh I don't think we've touched on very much in in the discussion so far is the idea of creating a national biotech coordinating office an office that can um kind of span the breadth of of government uh looking at where there are opportunities to improve uh where there's opportunities to create some strategy and synergy uh and where there's opportunities to ensure that we're we're leveraging all of the resources and all the specialties uh across the So I I
▶ 1:48:24think you know one way I would think about it is that important uh activity can be an avenue by which we can start to think about how we can improve and support those businesses that want to grow. Thank you for bringing that up and I we want to get out of the way so that these industries particularly the smaller innovative technologies that might be destroyed by regulatory burdens uh can be enhanced as to their likelihood to bring important products to ultimately to market. Dr. Dr. Techman, thank you very much for your focus on the workforce pipeline. And as you know, China is very focused on STEM education.
▶ 1:48:54How can we get our students more interested in math and science, especially in the K through 12 level of education? Yeah, thank you for that question. Um, I think it's really important that we show how incredible biology is um to students. I mean, as a high school student, I had the privilege of being able to go and see what it was like in a molecular biology lab. And for me that was the spark. And so I think it's been brought up before.
▶ 1:49:19I think there's so many examples that capture the imagination of what biology can do. And I think that the more that we can uh give those experiences to students early on in their uh education, the more that they will then be able to then take that and run with it. Um, I think that's what's going to make us competitive when those uh high school students are using tools for genetic engineering to be able to make these uh new functions that are helpful and see the potential for biology.
▶ 1:49:49At that point, I think we start to to get to build that pipeline. Thank you very much. Instead of becoming social media influencers, I might actually come to to your position and come to Congress and tell us how great all that stuff is. Well, Mr. Chair, thank you very much for the time. And with that, and thank you for the answers to those questions, I yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll go next to the representative from North Carolina, Miss Fushi. Your represent you are recognized for five minutes.
▶ 1:50:13Um, thank you to the chairman and ranking members for holding this hearing today and thank you to the witnesses for your testimonies and your willingness to answer our questions. North Carolina's fourth district and the triangle region of North Carolina is no stranger to biotechnology. Anchored by the research triangle and supported by the surrounding higher education institutions, our region is well positioned to fuel innovation and support the current and future bioeconomy workforce.
▶ 1:50:43for any of you. Um, can you please describe to what extent the pipeline for biotech workforce talent has been negatively affected by this administration's gutting of scientific research across the federal government and the targeting of international visa holders who work in these disciplines?
▶ 1:51:16Anybody want to take a stab? I will uh try to offer a perspective that you know as we think about workforce um in in the field that I'm in, I think about a whole range of kinds of skills that are needed. Um there are those that uh and North Carolina is very uh exceptional in this. those that are doing the manufacturing, those to me are uh jobs in a manufacturing facility.
▶ 1:51:42Uh there's a certain set of skills, a certain set of background and experience needed to do that job effectively. Those are typically very high wage jobs and I think we want to be able to support those activities. I think if you look at biotech broadly, you also uh start to see uh the research component of this, the earliest stage in the valley value chain.
▶ 1:52:01Um and I think it's also important that we have that kind of investment as we've also talked about earlier in the hearing and those kinds of jobs um tend to be from my observation um located in hubs and those hubs may be uh dictated by a geography they may be dictated by a company or a multinational company and I think uh they may be more limited in geographically where they get deployed but I think the the really neat thing about biotechnology and that we've been talking about is that those biio manufacturing jobs those manufacturing jobs.
▶ 1:52:31They can and they should be placed all across the country because there is opportunity all across the country. And I think one way that I think about this is thinking about the importance of the manufacturing piece in addition to thinking about the innovation and the discovery piece. Sure, Dr. So, one of the things that I think is really important to understand about the national laboratory system is that our scientists work there because they're passionate about the science and about the mission that they work in.
▶ 1:52:58And their ability to do that science is underpinned by their educational background and how they come to the to the the laboratory itself. The work that they do is critically important to the bioeconomy. It's critically important to our nation and the missions that we serve, whether it's a national security mission or a science mission or an energy mission.
▶ 1:53:17and continuing to fund the research at the laboratories to underpin the basic sciences that can serve the bioeconomy is a critical component of driving the the the global competition that we are seeking here. So the scientists are here for a key reason and that's to advance science. If there are no others on this question, I'll just simply ask the question this way.
▶ 1:53:45Should the biotech industry be limiting the scope of who they hire? The Nobel laurate for DNA synthesis is an immigrant. Goen, the late Goen Kurana. Half of the American Nobel laureates are immigrants roughly.
▶ 1:54:08Um if you go to Silicon Valley and you ask um uh uh you know who's in the uh startup executive suite um uh for the successful companies majority immigrants to the United States my rough understanding of things. So we've done well when we welcome people who want to do good. Um should the biotechnology area industry be hiring anybody? Everybody. No question. I know that's not your question. That's not my question. Yeah. Yeah.
▶ 1:54:38So, um it's it's important that um in my view, everybody has the option of learning about biology. Everybody has the option of participating in the bioeconomy. That's what's going to make it uniquely American. That's what's going to make it democratic and we have to keep that going. Thank you for that. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from my colleague from California, Mr. Fong, you're recognized for five minutes. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:55:09Thank you to the um uh to those who providing testimony. Um certainly the National Security Commission on Emerging Bio Biotechnology has laid out a a sobering uh but strategic blueprint. Uh we are in a global race uh and our competitors are investing heavily often with fewer constraints and greater speed. I wanted to ask Dr. Lee and anyone can can can uh chime in but you mentioned supply chain.
▶ 1:55:33Uh I wanted to ask um you know what are the most critical vulnerabilities uh in the US biotechnology supply chain today particularly for raw materials reagents uh or biio manufacturing inputs and how dependent um is the United States on foreign suppliers uh for essential biotech inputs and what are the national security implications and you know what steps has uh the federal government taken to map and monitor um the biotech supply chain from end to end. Yeah, thank you for that question.
▶ 1:56:02It's a very important question and I I can follow up uh after the hearing with uh given the breadth of that question uh perhaps some more specifics but I I I think we live in a as we all know we we live in a global society and supply chains are global by nature.
▶ 1:56:17I think um uh when you look at where materials come from, when you look at where um drug substance or APIs are manufactured, um it is for better or worse, it is a global uh environment and uh there are certainly um our competitor nations, but there's also our friends uh that uh have been able to secure a substantial amount of the manufacturing of these important materials and and I think it's a real risk uh to the uh to the United states.
▶ 1:56:47I mean, if you just look in the news today, perhaps outside of the space of biotech and you and you look at um rare earths and you and you see what's going on there, I think uh you can begin to understand the challenges that happen when you become so tightly integrated uh and and you're trying to have difficult conversations with people.
▶ 1:57:04So I I think there's a a significant amount of improvement that we could make in terms of ensuring and securing our own interests but it is a global society and we should be working with our friends and allies and partners uh to ensure that uh we can meet our needs as well as Anyone else have anything to add then?
▶ 1:57:26Then to follow up, uh, you know, should what what should the the federal government do, whether it's um incentives or or other policies to to help stabilize or or derisk the the biotech supply chain? Yeah, that's another really good question and I and I think a piece of that is really uh articulated in some of the NEB uh report recommendations that it's unfortunately it's not simple.
▶ 1:57:54It's not as simple as saying we need to just do this one thing. I I think it's a a collection of activities. I think it begins with that national biotech coordinating office to take a strategic look at this because we're talking about supply chains that are complicated across many different types of products.
▶ 1:58:08I think it's uh ensuring that we have uh demonstration facilities and scaleup facilities so that uh small innovative companies that are trying to bring uh new technologies to market uh that may be better than current technologies that they have a place where they can innovate and accelerate their innovation and ultimately I think there's probably a piece of this which is creating financial incentives uh or at least creating an environment where companies uh would rather choose uh to build their factories here in the United States as opposed to other Sure.
▶ 1:58:40And I guess my my last question is, you know, we one of the lessons learned through the pandemic is is certainly uh this this this challenge. Um you know, how well did the the biotechnology supply chain perform during the the pandemic and and did it reveal any structural weaknesses uh that that we that we need to address in the short term uh compared to to a kind of a long-term strategy?
▶ 1:59:06Well, I think the um I I think what happened over those years uh highlighted a lot of weaknesses uh and and in some cases I think we were able to uh get through as a nation in part uh because we made significant uh quite significant uh financial investments to build infrastructure to build capacity uh to meet our needs.
▶ 1:59:27And and part of the way I think about that is um you know a modest investment uh on an ongoing basis uh can probably save one from having to make massive investments uh when there's a crisis or um some other situation that comes up. So I I think there's some lessons learned about ensuring that we have supply chains that we understand uh how those supply chains work. I think there's uh opportunities to think about it not just in terms of factories but also workers.
▶ 1:59:54You can't just build a manufacturing facility to make uh some complicated medicine or medical countermeasure uh and expect that all of a sudden you're going to have talent everywhere that you can just start filling that uh facility with. So I think there's also a workforce piece to this. Uh certainly appreciate that. I I this is certainly a very important I know that in in reviewing the the recommendations and the and the uh report um you know the threat um from from China and C and the CCP is real.
▶ 2:00:22And so if if our core materials and chemicals and reagents are from an adversarial country, we have to begin to re-evaluate and have a resilient supply chain uh or supply chains plural um to to allow us to be the global leader that we need to be. So by the time has run out, I I I certainly yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from the representative from Delaware, Miss McBride. You're recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much, uh Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:00:49Thank you so much chairs Weber and Albernalti and ranking members Steven and Stevens and Ross for holding this timely joint hearing on biotechnology and continuing the important bipartisan work of this committee.
▶ 2:01:03As we've already heard in December 2021, Congress established the National Security Commission on Emerging This bipartisan independent commission was tasked with evaluating and recommending ways in which the US can support the secure development of biotech and biio manufacturing here in the United States.
▶ 2:01:21The commission's recent action plan for American biotechnology highlights the need for more private public supported innovation in biotechnology and emphasizes the need for dedicated workforce development programs to strengthen the domestic biommanufacturing industry. If you all haven't read this report, anyone watching, it is a page turner. I definitely recommend opening it up.
▶ 2:01:47Um, today I am so proud to highlight my home state, the greatest state in the history of the union, Delaware, because the first state is truly a leader in this space, a successful hub for biotechnology investments and innovation. Thanks in large part to my friend and one of today's witnesses, Dr. Kelvin Lee and his leadership as Nimble's institute director. We're incredibly lucky to have him in Delaware.
▶ 2:02:15I've bragged a lot about Nimble to this committee and so I'm really glad that everyone gets to hear from him today and got to hear his wonderful sports analogies for uh today's needs. Last month, Senator Coons and I welcomed commission members to Nimble to see firsthand how government and industry partnerships drive excellence in innovation and workforce development.
▶ 2:02:39Nimble's success proves we must continue these efforts to secure the future of biotechnology innovation in the United States. And above all, it's critical that we understand that to reshore manufacturing, we must manufacture for the future, not the past. To do this, we must take this bipartisan and independent commission's warnings and recommendations seriously. We must provide full funding for science and research.
▶ 2:03:08We must support our researchers, provide students with the resources they need to excel and welcome common sense partnerships to make sure the US remains the leader in biotechnology innovation, not China. So my my first question is to my good friend Dr.
▶ 2:03:24ly nimble, the University of Delaware and state-based associations have worked for decades to create a powerful biotechnology sector in the state and as we look to expand biio manufacturing AC across the country through public private partnerships. I'm curious what lessons we can take for national initiatives that we've learned in Delaware that you've learned in Delaware. Well, thank thank you for the uh the question and the kind words. I appreciate that.
▶ 2:03:51Um, you know, I think in Delaware when I reflect on how we got to where we are, um, it really is it's not an overnight um, situation. It it's a I think a strategic and a consistent investment that has been made over the last couple of decades uh, with an emphasis placed on life science. How are we going to create an innovation ecosystem in Delaware that is right for Delaware? And what does right for Delaware mean? Well, it's not a large state. It's a relatively small state.
▶ 2:04:19And I think through that it has uh fostered an environment where uh organizations have to find a way to collaborate and partner and work together. And I think we've done a very good job in the state of finding you know where is it that the public sector can contribute where is it that the private sector has something to contribute how can we bring uh these different kinds of organizations to to come together to uh forge a future that is is uh going to be uh the one that we all want to see.
▶ 2:04:46Earlier in one of your answers um to to a previous question, you you talked about workforce development, you talked about education and the range of educational needs for the biio manufacturing industries.
▶ 2:04:59I I I'm curious if you could talk a little bit more uh about the workforce needs and how they might be different from other emerging technology hubs and and what kind of education you think is most needed to fill gaps to build the workforce to to grow biio manufacturing here in the United States. Yeah. Well, well, in terms of the the kinds of of skills, I think it's it's really quite broad.
▶ 2:05:22it is on the one hand as I mentioned earlier the the more specialized the research type uh knowledge and skills and that's not for everybody but I think we need that um but then I I think about the opportunity uh is really around manufacturing it's around biio manufacturing and those are the kinds of jobs that are um the kinds of jobs where you need skills you need training you don't have to have a a long history of um getting a PhD or a master's degree I think you you have to be a dedicated worker with with skills to be effective
▶ 2:05:52in that space. But as you imagine the amount of factories going up uh across the country, then you start to realize you need other uh really important um kinds of positions filled. You need the trades because who's going to build these factories and maintain the factories? You need people who are skilled in automation, people who are knowledgeable about data science. So there's a lot of crosscutting benefits that can emerge and I think that's true in other uh emerging industries as well.
▶ 2:06:18uh biotech and biioarma in particular is a little bit unique because it's so highly regulated uh very unique environments to do the manufacturing but a chip fab is also a very unique environment to do manufacturing and I think there's lessons learned about how we train people to work at those places thank you and I yield back thank you Miss McBride we will hear next from a representative from Arkansas Mr. Bllye you're recognized for five minutes Oh, sorry.
▶ 2:06:48Alaska. Oh, there we go. AK is Alaska. Uh, thank thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, kudzu is a fast growing vine from Asia was introduced in the US for erosion control as an ornamental and as an ornamental plant. However, kudzu spread rapidly, smothering native vegetation, trees, and even structures. Today, kudzu is known as the vine that ate the south.
▶ 2:07:16Cud Zoo now covers millions of acres and costs millions annually to manage. Serves as a reminder that often there are unintended consequences of well-intentioned interventions in nature. So my first question goes to Dr. Techman. Um I'm I'm encouraged to hear about opportunities using uh biotechnology for soil cleanup and mining.
▶ 2:07:39Um but what we're discussing is by any measure uh and by definition a change of function whether gain or deletion of function. How do you ensure that we can switch off or contain innovation should unintended consequences be identified after they have been deployed in the natural Yeah, thank you so much for that question and I think it's a really important one. Um, my background has been in in bio remediation where we're trying to clean up contaminants.
▶ 2:08:09And as we thought about kind of how do we intervene in the situation where you have a contaminated system and use biology to help with that, there are some ways of taking what's naturally there and finding ways of encouraging it such that you're not necessarily introducing something foreign into that system to deal with the problem. And part of this is our ability to know what exists in nature, what's naturally there, and then how can we encourage the natural community to do that.
▶ 2:08:35So for example, in the binding bioming project that we have, we're not introducing organisms as much as we are finding ways of encouraging what's norm what's there to do what we want it to do. And so I think that's part of that that balance there. But yet it is something that we have to think critically about from the very beginning. I think it's essential that we think about what are the long-term uh potential un unintended consequences of this technology and really ask those hard questions at the beginning before we get to the point of deploying it in the environment.
▶ 2:09:05So I think it's a great question. Thank you. Thanks. Uh my next question to Dr. Lee. Um now depending on what one believes about the origins of uh co 19 the gain of function biotechnology research of the Wuhan lab had an extraordinarily delotterious impact on the global population. How do we best contain risk from nations with little to no safety Yeah, thank you uh for that question.
▶ 2:09:31I I think one of the areas that I I believe we can all improve um and and perhaps this is an important piece of this is it's going to sound a little bit um silly in a sense workforce training.
▶ 2:09:44I I think in the research space that we live in doing biotech for the first few decades people didn't think about the need to protect right people thought about this as a great research field it's producing new medicines it's producing new products and I think within the research community we haven't had enough people thinking about dual use function thinking about um what the risks are and I start to now see more people talking about it but I don't know that enough people are talking about
▶ 2:10:14um how do we vet uh people who are working in these fields? How do we vet projects? How do we understand and talk about uh what some of those risks are and if there are risks, how do we mitigate those risks? We want the promote piece. We want the open science to lead to new products and and and deliver the the benefits to all of us for that. But certainly want to acknowledge that I think we need to talk more about what are the risks and how do we identify and deal with those risks.
▶ 2:10:41Do do you think it would make sense for us to pursue an international uh framework or treaty agreement that would help us to ensure that there are proper safeguards for this technology? I I am a little bit out of my expertise, but I actually think there are some in certain areas uh that exist. Whether they're effective or not is perhaps an open question.
▶ 2:11:00or whether everyone is uh everyone meaning all nations are are adequately um aligned with those uh policies, guidelines and and treaties is also something I'm not very familiar with. But I do think that the ability to establish and set global standards and norms of how work is done is critically important and to be a leader in the field uh and be perceived as a leader as a nation allows you to drive others uh towards converging on those standards and those norms.
▶ 2:11:30If you're not a leader in the field and you aspire to be one and somebody else is, then in a sense you're you're trying to play catch-up and and influence in a way that is far less effective. Thank you very much and uh I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Uh we will go next to the representative from New York. I do know what NY stands for. Mr. Riley, you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, uh Mr. Chairman. Uh Dr. Lee, I loved in your opening statement it was um the sports analogy.
▶ 2:11:59So, I'm going to ask you all the the last SST hearing we had, I asked a similar question. Nobody knew the answer to it. Um, it's a related question. Does anybody know who won the national championship for men's lacrosse over Memorial Day weekend? Okay, this is what happened last time when I asked who won the ECAC hockey championship. So, the answer is Cornell, uh, which I represent.
▶ 2:12:21and to honor Cornell's lacrosse team, which is clearly what we're going to establish in this hearing, is that we are at Cornell um an athletic powerhouse in the country. We won EC hockey. We just won the national championship for lacrosse. Um so, I'm going to leave this here to honor the Big Red because, you know, we beat everybody else. Um so, uh I also raised Cornell, Dr. Lee, for obvious reasons. Uh we're at the forefront of biotechnology.
▶ 2:12:48I'm so proud of the work that's happening at the Cornell uh Institute of Biotechnology. They're doing just as you know amazing work with both human and animal health which is really important for our uh a economy and it's a place where uh we are taking um incredible technologies and innovations not just to incubate those but to also commercialize those. You talked quite a bit earlier about the challenges of taking things from the labs and the process to the factory floor.
▶ 2:13:15Um, and you said we we invent stuff here, which is great, but we've got to start making stuff here in America, too. That's the other piece of this. So, I was hoping you might be able to use some of your time from your own experience um at Cornell's Institute of Biotechnology to maybe um uh talk about some of the really important work that they're doing uh particularly as it relates to our uh a economy. And um as you're as you're doing that, you know, we're all cognizant of some of the budget cuts that are being proposed.
▶ 2:13:44Um, and maybe if you have a perspective on how those cuts could impact and hinder some of the really important work that's happening, I would love to hear that perspective. If you also want to talk about how great Cornell athletics is, I I I'll give you the time for that, too. Well, certainly as national champions, they obviously have great teams. So, uh, absolutely. Uh, thank thank you for that question. You know, Cornell is a wonderful institution. It's a great institution. It has an incredible richness in its students, incredible richness in its faculty.
▶ 2:14:12Um and uh and and they are effective right as an institution of higher education. They know how to get things done and and they certainly have delivered impact. I um I I know that the Institute of Biotechnology there does a really amazing job at uh bringing together life science researchers, faculty, students and staff uh to tackle some of the most interesting, promising and challenging problems of the day certainly in the A biotech space uh as well as in other areas.
▶ 2:14:40Um what I'll highlight maybe um in response to your question is you know one of the things that really makes uh life science work these days and it's not just at Cornell I think it's true broadly is that technology is fundamentally driving how life science works and we talk a little bit about AI as a piece of that but even the commoditization and the availability of technology for DNA synthesizers as we talked earlier uh DNA sequencers and so on um there is a lot of infrastructure that
▶ 2:15:10drives our ability to make those discoveries and ultimately uh create those products. And Cornell uh and that Institute of Biotechnology has done a wonderful job of creating an infrastructure that the Cornell faculty and small companies and large companies can access and benefit from.
▶ 2:15:26And there is an incredible efficiency in saying we're going to create a place where you don't have to buy all that equipment that's very expensive and figure out how to maintain it and yourself because then you put it out of reach from a lot of different uh perspectives.
▶ 2:15:42um to let's try to centralize some of these services that are unique and important and by doing that we can become the best in the world in some of these uh services and we can make sure that we can deliver and that frankly um creates also a financial efficiency because then not everybody has to have that for themselves. They can rely on a set of experts and a set of expert tools and capabilities that allows them to do their work.
▶ 2:16:06Yeah, I I really appreciate that perspective because I think if I think all of us here, most of us, at least I agree, we need to make the government more efficient. Uh if there's places where there's waste or fraud or abuse, we need to get rid of it. Uh but these investments that we're talking about are actually some of the most efficient ways we can spend money. Uh if we're investing in that sort of infrastructure, creating those economies of scale, if we stop doing that, we're not only going to undercut the science, but we're going to waste a whole lot of money. So, I really appreciate that perspective.
▶ 2:16:36Um, just really quickly, you know, you talked about the loss of manufacturing jobs. That's something that's near and dear to my heart in our district where we used to have IBM and I lost lost a lot of jobs. I'll my time's expiring, but I'll submit a question to the record for you about um you wrote in your testimony about uh us losing out to countries with more effective industrial policy. I think one of the things that we don't think about enough is the chips and science act as industrial policy with the science provision is industrial policy.
▶ 2:17:04The investments in the National Science Foundation that's industrial policy that's not just science that's manufacturing jobs. My time's expired but I'll come back to you with some of that. I really appreciate it. Uh thank you Mr. Chairman. Gentleman yields back. We will go next to the chairman of the full committee Mr. Babin. You're recognized for five minutes. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um uh Dr. Indie, uh, if you don't mind, in your testimony, you suggested that foundational discoveries are the key to US leadership in biotech.
▶ 2:17:34What gaps do you see in our fundamental knowledge of biology? And what unique roles do both the public and private sectors have in filling those gaps? Thank you for the question. Yes sir. One thing to highlight is uh cells, the fundamental unit of life. these these things we partner with to do useful stuff. Turns out there's no cell on Earth that we fully understand. They're still mysterious at their microscopic level.
▶ 2:18:04Um, this is best illustrated by work to build genomes and it only include things that are required for the cell to work. And when we do that, there's about 20% of the parts that are required for the cell to work. And nobody on earth knows what they do. These are called the uh essential genes of unknown function. And the consequence of that is bio-engineering workflows remain edisonian. Tinker and test, tinker and test.
▶ 2:18:34I don't know if my thing's going to work until I build it and test it. That's very different than aircraft engineering today. And so how are we going to punch through this ambiguity and get to a complete operational understanding of the fundamental unit of life? This is not something I could go raise money for to start a company to do. This is something that's going to have to come from the public treasure.
▶ 2:18:59Uh the return is this significant upgrade in our ability to partner with biology to solve problems. There's other examples, but just start with that. You know, how do we get to a complete understanding of the fundamental unit of life, the cell? And the people who can get that job done are supported by NSF, the Department of Energy and NIST. We need better measurement tools. We need better professional teams sustaining the work and so on. Great. Okay.
▶ 2:19:29Thank you very much. Uh and Miss Gracio. Uh earlier this week, the DOJ indicted two Chinese researchers who attempted to smuggle a dangerous fungus, a biological pathogen into the United States. One of the scientists worked at the University of Michigan.
▶ 2:19:50Uh the other worked for a Chinese university and both allegedly had connections to the Chinese Communist Do the national labs have the necessary expertise to address emerging biotech threats resulting from unmonitored uh laboratory experiments or accidental or intentional release of pathogens? Thank you for the question.
▶ 2:20:12The national labs have necessary expertise, the instrumentation, the capabilities to address these kinds of threats to understand and to explore them. Uh today we've responded to thethrax anti uh attacks in 2001 and to multiple naturally occurring outbreaks of Ebola in Africa.
▶ 2:20:32So the the mass spectrometry, the instrumentation, the the vast array of instruments and the ability to bring all of that data together and analyze it so that we can understand what these threats are is a core capability of the department of energy. Is the US vulnerable to aggro terrorism as alleged from China uh by as alleged by the FBI I should say and what can the United States do to mitigate that risk if it really exists? Absolutely.
▶ 2:21:03The US is unfortunately very vulnerable to agricultural threats including agot terrorism as what you're referring to here and naturally occurring occurring outbreaks such as uh food and mouth disease in multiple European countries and the widespread outbreak of African swine fever.
▶ 2:21:19Uh we continue to vigilantly monitor uh imports including inadvertent and deliberate violations and to put our agriculture these these activities put our agriculture at risk and the monitoring whether it's through the custom and border protection through the uh ports and borders is a critical component but also ensuring we understand what's going on in foreign countries that could come into the US is a critical element of this as well.
▶ 2:21:47So increasing the ability to collect information uh and understand the the vast array of capabilities of foreign countries is an important aspect. Okay. Thank you. And really quickly uh Dr. Lee Nimble plays an important role in developing technologies and necessary workforce for innovation in biioharmaceutical manufacturing and d-risking new techniques.
▶ 2:22:08Could you elaborate very quickly on some products or technologies like the buffer stock blending system that were developed at Nimble and how they impacted the uh industry? Yeah, so very briefly the the technology referred to the buffer stock blending skid is is really trying to automate high school chemistry to solve a problem that the industry stakeholders that we work with came together and said we're managing very complicated supply chains. We have proprietary relationships with vendors.
▶ 2:22:35we build these factories that are very big and very expensive with very large clean rooms and they realized even though they all had proprietary relationships and situations, they all pretty much were purchasing the same stuff. And so by creating a more efficient supply chain and building basically one piece of equipment that all companies could use if they chose to use it, they actually streamlined supply chains, they reduce the capital investment needed to build that next factory.
▶ 2:23:00They reduce the operating costs and they can do it far faster and more effectively and at higher quality than they could using traditional approaches. Okay. Thank you. I'm out of time and I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from the gentleoman from Maryland, Miss McClean Delaney. You're recognized for five minutes. Uh thank you to our chair and thank you to all of our panelists here.
▶ 2:23:21I really have been listening in uh from my office and I was so happy uh to hear this panel really discuss the importance of research, research agencies and all of you that work together um and how their impact really helps innovation, our national security and and really companies thrive in my district at Biioarma and elsewhere. Um so Maryland is a national hub for biotechnology research and development across a number of sectors and Mr.
▶ 2:23:47Clearly, I was hearing here kind of a little bit of a love fest with NIST, who's that's in my district, and I love obviously love NIST. Um, but uh I as I was reviewing the National Security Commission's report on emerging biotechnology, I was glad to see recommendations highlighting the importance of standards and frameworks to protect American biological data.
▶ 2:24:08Um this is really to all of you but um the US doesn't have universal standards for making sure that biological data is really ready for AI application and since biological data is key to advancing AI uh and biotechnology how can NIST which I think is u really one of our nation's jewel uh with a deep standard setting expertise lead in standards development for biological data to ensure that they are accessible interoperable and shared respons
▶ 2:24:40So, I'll start if if everyone's okay with that. Um, NIST has a research data framework that they've created and that sets the best practices to be quite honest. Interoperability of data and preparation for AI is a holy grail. It has been a holy grail since the 80s. How do we bring data together? How do we integrate all of it and bring it out to gain the best information we can?
▶ 2:25:04uh the standards that are created today are proprietary frequently and that is part of the global competitiveness. Correct? So we you don't necessarily want to remove that but what you want to have is some baseline framework that you can use that everyone builds towards so that you can interoperate amongst the data sets and you can bring the data into tools like large language models or into uh new techniques in AI that you can automate the instrumentation.
▶ 2:25:31You want to be able to bring all of this data together and discover the key key elements that are going to help advance biotechnology and NIST has the ability to bring those kinds of uh people together through consortiums and and federations of companies. Do any of you want to add on? I'll I'll just add very briefly. You know, one of the things, you know, we work with a lot of different companies in the pre-ompetitive space and and they collaborate with each other even outside of Nimble and they contract with each other outside of Nimble.
▶ 2:26:00And one of the pain points that we hear about is how they can exchange data with each other to facilitate their collaborations or to facilitate contract manufacturing and that there is a significant amount of friction because every company has its own way of maintaining and storing data and even within a company different parts of the company have different ways of of addressing that. So, one of the projects that we've worked on inside Nimble is to establish an ontology, a framework for data that can be used a as a way to translate data sets between organizations.
▶ 2:26:30Not that anyone company has to use that ontology themselves, but if they know how to take their data formats and flip it into a common standard ontology, then that creates sort of that translation piece where they can then flip it into uh a partnership with another company. And that kind of open standard is something we rely very heavily on the NIST expertise in establishing these kinds of Go ahead Dr. Andy. The international standards organization meeting on biotechnology standards is happening right now in Australia.
▶ 2:26:59The largest delegation is from China. Let's all go. Let's go. I'm hearing I'm hearing that half of the proposals for new biotech standards are coming from China. That's a problem. I like what's in this report on NIST. I don't think it goes far enough. In my view, NIS should be resourced to create a biommeasurement laboratory to complement the physical measurement laboratory and the material measurement laboratory. This is significant need and it should support hundreds of scientists at NIS. Thank you.
▶ 2:27:30That's it. And you think that this is something we should be funding and taking a it needs to be fully operational within a thousand days in my Anyone else? Yeah, I mean I think I would agree with the other panelists. I think that there needs to be in in some domains within biology. It's not just uh we have the data, we need uh higher quality data, but we do need to think about expanding the data that we already have.
▶ 2:27:53And I think it starts at experimental standards to standards for metadata and data that then goes into databases that are accessible and well curated as well. And I think there's a role definitely a role for NIST to play in all of that. Very very useful. Um thank you. I thank you for all of that and I think I will take those to heart.
▶ 2:28:11Um because of lack of uh time, I will be submitting um and and building on my colleagues uh uh uh question about um also some of the important unique forensic and attribution cap uh capabilities of NBAC um protecting US biotechnology. So um Miss Gracio, I'll be forwarding that and my questions to committee. I yield back. Thank you. Gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from the chairman of the energy subcommittee, Mr. Weber. You're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, sir.
▶ 2:28:41Miss Graio, we're going to stick with you. I spoke with your boss, Director Steve Ashby, yesterday. He spoke pretty highly of you, by the way, just so you know. Anyway, I'm going to stick to biotechnology today.
▶ 2:28:56Can you elaborate on the importance of PNNL's foundational science capabilities and how they can be leveraged to deepen our understanding of some of these complex biological systems, particularly those that we need to master in order to eventually reach the commercialization stage. Thank you, Chairman Weber, and thank you for the conversation you had with my boss. Hopefully that that will help give me a little bit of a plus there, huh?
▶ 2:29:22So for three decades, DOE has really supported basic research at PNNL and at the other national laboratories to improve our ability to measure the molecules produced by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi much like what we've been talking about today. This research has been foundational to the development of proteomics and metabolomics, which is the study of proteins and metabolites and these microorganisms that that are produced.
▶ 2:29:46Because of this research, we can optimize the production of economically important chemicals through a fermentation process. So we can also measure the differences now between harmful and benign bacteria and fungi and begin to understand which proteins and metabolites make organisms harmful.
▶ 2:30:03At PNNL, we have been developing techniques to evaluate the presence of these small molecules in human cells and understanding and using these processes to assess soil and perafrost samples by the for the Department of Defense to determine whether there are novel organisms that could present threat to the war fighter.
▶ 2:30:20Without this basic science underpinning, we would not be able to translate the ideas and the concepts that I've talked about here into techniques, countermeasures, other mechanisms for understanding what's happening and what the war fighter might be exposed to. So that's one example of how basic science really can drive the outcomes both of biotechnology but also in terms of helping our national security and our military. Well, thanks for that.
▶ 2:30:45How do you see the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnologies recommendations helping to address this critical uh challenge of adequately using basic science assets to advance that field? I think there were some outstanding recommendations in the in the report that enhance and help understand what the Department of Energy can bring to bear on this problem. The investment in the infrastructure will amplify the science that's done by private industry.
▶ 2:31:12oftent times we take on high- risk high reward but highly uh hazardous work in within the national laboratory system. By doing that we can can provide the basic sciences and the discoveries out to private industry through public private partnerships that help them amplify the science and take it out to the next level. Getting through that valley of death is one of the biggest criterias and it's the biggest challenges that both the research community and the private industry experience.
▶ 2:31:42I'm gonna stick with you, please, ma'am. In your written testimony, you note that quote the data. Do you say data or data? I say data. Okay. You say them, but it's okay. Tomato. Tomato. I was going there. Yeah. Rodeo rodeo. I'm Texas. So, what's so funny? So, anyway, you note that quote, "The data from DOE facilities can be used as a foundation for the web of biological data recommended inceb report." End quote.
▶ 2:32:09Could you explain why facilities like the Joint Genome Institute, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, EMS MSL or other DOE facilities are particularly well suited to lay that foundation for a web if you will biological data, please ma'am? Yes, absolutely. So each of those institutes you referred to and all of the projects within the DOE in terms of biology are open innovative science projects.
▶ 2:32:33Is there open science that is shared amongst the the contributors of the science amongst the performers, the researchers, the scientists as well as with the open community. When you have that much data and information that's brought together and you have the leadership class computing capabilities that I referred to in my testimony, you can start to bring the breadth of information together in a way that can create new discoveries. With AI, we're going to be able to explore that vast array of data in ways we've never been able to do before.
▶ 2:33:02and identify and discover new outcomes that can enhance and inform biotechnology in the future. Thanks. I'm gonna very quickly come to you, Dr. Andy, really quickly. What keeps you awake at night? The kids. Okay. All right. All right. And whose fault was the kids? Um, you had a part in that, right? Yeah. The Okay. Just checking. Yes, sir.
▶ 2:33:26Um the fact that we're not considering biology as a strategic domain and acting accordingly soon enough to matter. Yeah. Both to secure it and for flourishing in our economy. We're just not getting it at the scale that it demands. No, I appreciate that. And you're right on track with the kiddos, too. So, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Gentlemen yields back. We'll hear next from my colleague from California. Unfortunately, an MIT alum, but other than that, a lovely person. And Miss Rivas, you're recognized for five minutes.
▶ 2:33:57Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I won't hold that you went to Caltech against you. Uh, but thank you for holding uh this important opportunity to hear from experts and focus on our efforts uh to assess the current biotech research and development ecosystem. You know, but however, when assessing our current R&D ecosystem, it's hard to ignore the facts.
▶ 2:34:22You know, the president's proposed fiscal year 26 budget um cuts NSF funding by over five billion compared to fiscal year 24. Uh there are cuts of nearly 30% for cross agency biotechnology activities across NSF and there are cuts to NSF's directorate for biological sciences. Uh these cuts are 71.5% just to name a few.
▶ 2:34:49Uh so that you know that worries me in terms of our competitiveness. Uh a lot of basic science research um is is funded by the federal government. Um and we and our scientists and uh researchers across the country rely on federal funding to get some of these innovations started. Uh but my question is for Dr. Tekman.
▶ 2:35:15Um, my district is home to environmental justice communities that bear the brunt of climate change and pollution. Can you discuss the importance of federal funding to reduce pollution through new biotechnology use cases such as biore remediation of plastic pollutants or bioensors for environmental monitoring? Yeah, thank you for that question. Um I think the the fundamental science is essential for us to begin to apply those technologies.
▶ 2:35:46A lot of what we have been doing in my lab has been understanding how microbes respond when the contaminant is present. And that gives us information to then think about how do we actually deploy these in situations when we need it. And I think with bio remediation often it's we're dealing with the problem after it's already happened. Um but we need to know about the biology beforehand so that we're then equipped to then go out and use it. Um, and as I said before, a lot of this is basic science. Knowing which organisms are there and what they're doing is a very fundamental question.
▶ 2:36:15And a lot of what we've been doing started with investments and understanding how microorganisms break down organic matter generally. And then we think about how does that then apply to oil or other contaminants. So I think it's it's essential that we know the basics to be able to then apply it. And how important is federal funding uh to that research? I I think it's absolutely essential. I mean, for I I can speak to my own my own work.
▶ 2:36:39It was through an NSF project that started us thinking about organic matter and how microbes break it down that we then are able to then go apply it to other projects where we're doing things with it, building underwater batteries, cleaning up contaminated sites. And so I think federal funding is important to build that foundation of basic science so that we then can transition that. And that is not something that is funded by industry typically, right? often that initial investment comes from the federal government um because the questions are are are very nent.
▶ 2:37:09I think we need to know uh kind of where where the uh where the the foundation is before we can think about what the applications are and I think federal funding derisks the technology so that we can then work with industries to to see how it applies. No, I I've seen many examples of that happening um you know in across science different science disciplines.
▶ 2:37:32uh and you know federal funding um is the people that I've met with researchers they always say that's what got them started and then they were able to transfer you know to applications to industries or other um other funders right that take this on uh and so that's why I'm very concerned about you know cuts to NSF and science research that the federal government is proposing the president is proposing uh Dr.
▶ 2:38:02Endy, can you speak to the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnologies recommendation that Congress should expand educational efforts in biotechnology for American students, especially an expansion in community college and apprenticeship programs? Thank you for your question. uh just point out when I do my napkin math, the proposed budget for NSF would bring us back to funding levels that were last seed in 1975 on a purchasing power basis.
▶ 2:38:33So, for what that's worth, um, in terms of, um, uh, uh, education, I think the Biobuilder Educational Foundation, of which I'm a director operating out of Massachusetts, does a great job working with high school teachers and local communities to build out facilities that help students at the high school level learn about biology and biotechnology. It's one of the best things going on.
▶ 2:38:57some of their biggest successes have been in eastern Tennessee and uh looks like that could go um you know across the whole country. Okay, thank you and I yield back. Gentleman yields back. We'll hear next from uh the gentleman from Illinois, Dr. Foster, you're recognized for five minutes. Then thank you, Mr. Chair, and um all your colleagues on the science committee. I I am um now in the process of rejoining the science committee after many years.
▶ 2:39:22We're recovering from a demographic crisis where a bunch of newly elected members like uh Ms. Revas in fact are very enthusiastic about being on the science committee thereby um you know bumping off members like me that have other responsibilities and so um I'm very grateful to be back. Um, now one of the things that can really throw a crowbar into progress here is a biocurity incident.
▶ 2:39:47And the things that scare me the most are desktop gene synthesis machines and just AI's expanding the access to expertise to people that, you know, wouldn't otherwise have it. Um, you know, as Congress's token PhD physicist, I sort of serve as a lightning rod for a lot of the concerns on that. Um it was a little over 10 years ago actually that all of my science friends said hey there's been this incredible discovery called crisper cast 9 that you guys are not ready for.
▶ 2:40:14So, we actually had Jennifer DNA sitting where you're sitting there and and one of the many things she told us about besides the incredible potential was the worries I think at one of the hearings that we had um she described worries about how easy it would be to use crisper cast 9 to knock out a cancer protective gene and what that might mean. And you know there and then in the decade since then it's actually not been that bad. There were a lot of worries.
▶ 2:40:42I um about that time I was invited to give the kickoff speech and the nationalmy's had a um a series of meetings on human germline editing and um and then I you know I I obviously there are things to worry about big things to worry about some of which came true I don't think it's an accident that it was in China that you saw human germline editing um take place in a underregulated environment but it hasn't really been you know maybe the worst thing that's happened is now you see the Cornell
▶ 2:41:12um lacrosse team genetically modified so they can actually win but um but you know so that one hasn't been as as bad as as it has been but I'm less sanguin about um desktop gene synthesis and just the access to that you know um these large language models have been trained on everything that's ever been published on the internet and there's a lot of expertise which if combined properly is very dangerous you the um the large language
▶ 2:41:43model chatbot providers say, "Oh, don't worry. We have them jailbreak." You know, they're impossible to jailbreak. And that's demonstrabably false. And I had a very scary demonstration of of that recently from one of the AI safety interest groups that they are not effectively jailbroken.
▶ 2:41:58And that is a big problem because they were giving um instructions on how to resurrect dangerous path pathogens um with someone with sort of a high school level of of expertise and giving advice on where you can buy this stuff in ways that you won't get caught, you know, really really scary stuff.
▶ 2:42:16Um and and so the other thing that that worries me is the the gene top synthesis which is potentially an end run around all of the regulation and screening that we've been made some attempt to set up. Uh and you know there was a a letter from um in Science magazine from David Baker and George Church roughly a year ago a little more than a year ago on this. So I you know I'm I'm worried a lot about that.
▶ 2:42:43you know, we're doing in just my artificial intelligence, we're trying to keep u there's a problem with the high-end AI engines being smuggled into China, the GPUs being smuggled into China. There's sort of an analogous need to control the hardware in desktop gene synthesis and to have very intrusive uh you know inspection or real-time monitoring of what you're actually doing with that.
▶ 2:43:06you know, the threat vector that worries me the most is the depressed grad student, frankly, which who could just resurrect some pathogen or invent a new even more dangerous one. So, I was just wondering what you thought that and I've been disappointed. I I led a letter or co-led a letter with a number of my colleagues on this on this committee and um I don't think a lot has been done. Do you have any thoughts on on what should be done and what could realistically be done on that? Yeah, Dr.
▶ 2:43:35Andy, thank you for your comments. I share your concern. Um, I'm reminded of what happened 100 years ago in France and the United Kingdom coming out of World War I and the struggles to figure out how to spend the limited precious public treasure to secure the future of those countries. In France, they built the Magno line, imagining in part that the last war would be the way to get ready for the next war. It's pretty impressive and almost worked, but we know it didn't work.
▶ 2:44:03Um things are changing that are increasing risks in biology and we face an important choice. We will either pretend that the way to secure biology going forward is to do what we've always been doing or to get ready for what's coming to secure biology really and could we do that? So for example, I'll be brief.
▶ 2:44:26Could you secure a future in which in a worst case scenario anybody anywhere could access any pathogen or toxin? Not that we would ever wish for that to be happening, but if it's technically becoming possible, could we still realize in an operational sense biocurity and public health? I believe the answer to that question is yes.
▶ 2:44:46But it starts with acknowledging that we've got some emerging trends and the way to get to a secure future may not be to keep doing the same thing we've always been doing, but to really understand what's going on, acknowledge that reality as General Jim Mattis would say and get to a good security solution. And I' I've exceeded my time here, but I just if any of you, you know, for the record can just throw a few links.
▶ 2:45:11Don't write some new document, but throw a few links on on a reading material that we should start absorbing on what we can realistically do on this because it's a big deal. Thank you. Yield back. Gentlemen yields back. That concludes member questions. I want to thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the members for their great questions. This has been a really fantastic hearing. The record will remain open for 10 days for additional comments and written questions from members. This hearing is now adjourned. Thank you, sir.
▶ 2:45:41The cops team would like to take a picture of you with the witnesses time. Yeah.