Emerging Threats of Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology

School of Public Health, Department of

Health Management and Policy in 2016. He received an M.S. (2012) in Public Policy and

Management and a B.S. in Political Science (2011) from Carnegie Mellon University.




Marie-Valentine FLORIN

Marie-Valentine Florin is the Executive Director of the International Risk Governance Center

(IRGC), at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. IRGC acts at the

interface between science and policy and is particularly active about risks related to emerging

technologies, marked by complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. She continues to develop the

concepts and guidelines for risk governance established by the IRGC Foundation, with a focus

on emerging and systemic risks, for which the risk and the resilience governance perspectives are

relevant. She convenes multi-stakeholder groups of experts to consider the particular risks andgovernance challenges that arise in specific sectors such as digital technologies, climate



engineering, nanotechnology, or synthetic biology. Before joining the IRGC Foundation in 2006,

Ms Florin spent the first part of her career (1984-1999) in an international socio-cultural research

and marketing consulting firm. She graduated from Science Po in Paris (public policy and

management) and then earned post-graduate diplomas in marketing strategy, sustainabledevelopment and environmental diplomacy. She is Society for Risk Analysis Fellow and a



member of the Advisory Board to the Global Risk Report of the World Economic Forum.




Edward J. PERKINS

Dr. Edward J. PERKINS is currently the Acting Army Deputy Chief Scientist and Army Senior

Research Scientist for Environmental Networks and Genetic Toxicology with the Army Corps ofEngineers. His work focuses on using genetics and biotechnology to assess chemical hazards



and develop novel applications to support Army activities including new materials andsy