CERSA’s Genome-Edited Microbial Workshop Series continues

In September 2022, the Genome-Edited Microbial Workshop Series was first held in Washington, DC by CERSA. Since then, it has met two more times in June 2023 (in-person) and November 2023 (virtually). The first workshop aimed to discuss challenges and concerns relevant to genome-edited microbial regulation and provide direction for stakeholders in the regulatory space. 
The goal of the first workshop was to discuss issues and concerns related to genome-edited microbial regulation and provide guidance for regulatory stakeholders. During this meeting, members of industry, government, and academic experts discussed concerns related to the regulation of genome-edited microbial products. The group developed a consensus statement to represent their collective viewpoints on the matter, which was then shared within their networks and used to guide further exploration in this area. 

Using the consensus statement as a starting point, CERSA created a framework for the second workshop in June 2023. Participants discussed ongoing concerns in genome-edited microbial regulation and developed an outline of the topics that were discussed during the meeting. Participants were encouraged to use this outline to continue research and discussion towards developing regulatory standards for these products. The group also discussed ways to create a more transparent and efficient regulatory body and identified who needed to be included in the conversation to achieve this.
After the second workshop, six working groups were formed to focus on questions discussed during the meeting. These groups met virtually in November 2023 to update the larger group on their progress. At that time, areas of focus, research topics to explore, and next steps concerning regulatory matters were identified. The full video of this meeting is available online at CERSA’s website. We hope to host another in-person meeting in 2024 at NC State University in Raleigh.