Biotechnology

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Publications

Media coverage

Here you will find an overview of our work on biotechnology.

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Publications

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Publikasjoner

21.10.2024

Policy note

Calls for a national strategy for bioinnovation

To capitalise on opportunities, strengthen our competitiveness internationally and be positioned for biotechnology's ChatGPT moment, we need an ambitious policy for the emerging technology-driven bioeconomy.

14.9.2024

Op-ed

Science has not provided good enough answers to the question of the origin of the pandemic

Here politics has become entwined with what should have been open and free research.

2.9.2024

Policy note

Antimicrobial resistance - Taking action on pull incentives in Norway

Antimikrobiell resistens (AMR) er en alvorlig og raskt voksende folkehelsetrussel. I 2022 ble det anslått at AMR førte til 1,27 millioner dødsfall globalt. Dette notatet beskriver en modell som estimerer at det i 2015 gikk tapt minst 240 liv i Norge på grunn av antimikrobiell resistens. Modellen er utarbeidet av Alliance for Reducing Microbial Resistance (ARMoR) med innspill fra tankesmien Langsikt. Utviklingskjeden for antimikrobielle midler har over tid blitt utarmet, og er nå klart utilstrekkelig for å levere medikamentene som trengs for å behandle resistente infeksjoner. En viktig årsak til dette er markedssvikt i legemiddelmarkedet, der dagens insentivstruktur gjør det ulønnsomt å kommersialisere nye antibiotika. ARMoR foreslår en satsing på såkalte pull-insentiver som en del av løsningen på denne markedssvikten.

12.7.2024

Op-ed

Should vital health care be put up for auction?

The most important thing we can do to reduce the damage from a new pandemic is to prevent it.

14.6.2024

Op-ed

A new pandemic is on the stairs

And it could be much worse than the COVID-19 pandemic.

7.6.2024

Policy note

A lab leak may have started the corona pandemic

The corona pandemic has been the biggest global crisis of our time. It has cost millions of lives, trillions of dollars and inflicted countless other negative consequences on society. The origins of the pandemic remain an unanswered question. In this document, we review the available knowledge. Based on this, we assess it as of June 2024, as most likely that the pandemic was the result of an accident at a research laboratory in Wuhan, not from natural contagion from animals at the wet market close by. We also point out how both the political and scientific system have failed in dealing with the issue and thus stood in the way of designing a knowledge-based preparedness and prevention policy for future pandemics.

7.6.2024

Policy note

Weapons, Plague and Gold - Opportunities and Threats of New Biotechnology

The twin revolutions in biotechnology and artificial intelligence will, in the future, dramatically increase the ability of humans to decode and program genetic code. This gives us the ability to design completely new biological functions and organisms - called synthetic biology. Synthetic biology will, over the next few decades, create trillion-class values and help us solve challenges in climate, animal welfare, food supply, medicine, vaccines, biomaterials and many other areas. At the same time, synthetic biology can have disastrous consequences either as a result of mishaps or intentional damage. In order to harness the enormous benefits that biorevolution can bring us, while avoiding the greatest dangers, we need to develop precise and ambitious policies. Download the memo to read more about this topic. If you would like to read the memo that specifically deals with the origin of the corona pandemic, you can find it here: www.langsikt.no/en/publikasjoner/lablekkasje.

Media coverage

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Media coverage

The Lab Leak Theory: - The Great Scandal

First published:

Dagbladet

22.2.2025

Sigrid Bratlie, Senior Advisor at Langsikt, believes that the corona pandemic, most likely, was caused by an infectious accident at a laboratory at the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology.

CIA mener covid trolig stammer fra lab

First published:

10.2.2025

- Denne saken er den viktigste i vår tid. Hvis forskning og teknologi har skapt en global katastrofe, er vi nødt til å rydde opp i det. Seniorrådgiver i Langsikt, Sigrid Bratlie, er intervjuet om lablekkasjeteorien.

We need more measures to protect against bird flu

First published:

Kveldsnytt, NRK

3.2.2025

Bird flu continues to spread, especially in the United States. Molecular biologist and Senior Advisor at LLangsikt, Sigrid Bratlie, believes we need more measures, such as wastewater monitoring, to protect us.

Mixed reception on Trump's proposal for health minister

First published:

Dagsnytt 18 (NRK)

15.11.2024

Senior adviser to Langsikt, Sigrid Batlie, is skeptical of Donald Trump's proposal of Robert F. Kennedy as Secretary of Health of the United States. Kennedy is, among other things, skeptical towards vaccines. Feature in Dagsnytt 18.

Året da KI vant Nobelprisene

First published:

Abels tårn

11.10.2024

Seniorrådgiver Sigrid Bratlie kommenterer nobelprisen i kjemi og i medisin (som begge egentlig går til molekylærbiologi!) i Abels tårn spesial om årets Nobelpriser.

Senior Advisor Sigrid Bratlie discusses the lab leak theory in Dagsnytt 18

First published:

Dagsnytt 18

30.8.2024

Senior Advisor Sigrid Bratlie meets Rein Aasland, professor of microbiology at UiO, and Minerva editor Nils August Andresen to discuss the possibility that a lab leak started the corona pandemic.

Complaints about Norwegian GMO ban to EU

First published:

Nationen

28.8.2024

Genetechnology expert Sigrid Bratlie complains about Norway's import ban on genetically modified corn and rapeseed to the European Union's control body ESA, because she believes it violates EEA rules. Law professor Hans Petter Graver believes Norway may have to lift the import ban.

The need for dissidents

First published:

E24

26.8.2024

Torbjørn Røe Isaksen writes in E24 about the importance of dissent in a society, highlighting Langsikt's note on the lab leak hypothesis (https://www.langsikt.no/publikasjoner/lablekkasje) as well as the VG case on the same topic (https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/OooK9w/kan-bli-tidenes-stoerste-skandale), where Senior Advisor Sigrid Bratlie is interviewed, as an important example.

Biotechnology

Publications

Publikasjoner

Calls for a national strategy for bioinnovation

Science has not provided good enough answers to the question of the origin of the pandemic

Antimicrobial resistance - Taking action on pull incentives in Norway

Should vital health care be put up for auction?

A new pandemic is on the stairs

A lab leak may have started the corona pandemic

Weapons, Plague and Gold - Opportunities and Threats of New Biotechnology

Media coverage

Media coverage

The Lab Leak Theory: - The Great Scandal

CIA mener covid trolig stammer fra lab

We need more measures to protect against bird flu

Mixed reception on Trump's proposal for health minister

Året da KI vant Nobelprisene

Senior Advisor Sigrid Bratlie discusses the lab leak theory in Dagsnytt 18

Complaints about Norwegian GMO ban to EU

The need for dissidents

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