Continuing with London Calling 2022 videos, tonight I watched the session with Glen Gowers & Bupe Mwambingu from Basecamp Research. They spoke about “Responsible Exploration of our planet’s biodiversity towards discovery-enabled biodesign.” This was a showcase presentation with a few slides and and questions from the audience. Gowers is the cofounder of Basecamp Research. Mwambingu is an elite member of a disaster response group and catalyzes collaborations. They began by speaking about how in 2019 Gowers and team took a lab to the ice cap! They sampled springs and wanted to discover new biology. Basecamp Research wants to learn about in silico prediction of novel functions. Gowers explained that they want to understand the community context of how proteins have evolved. Two things with the same shape may have different functions, emphasized Gowers. Basecamp Research establishes “an ethical data supply chain built on traceability and benefit sharing.” The company has worked “on the ground” with people who protect biodiversity. They use “off-the-grid labs.” Teams have gone to numerous environments. As a company they ‘sit’ between biodiversity guardians and biotechnology researchers. Mwambingu helps built partnerships by talking to conservation groups, environmental ministers, research institutes… with the goal of mutual benefit. Mwambingu was asked about what governs mutual benefit, and they spoke about reviewing the access and benefit sharing and the Nagoya Protocol. Gowers was asked if they are pursuing novel antimicrobials and they explained that they are focusing on proteins. Nevertheless, they are investigating biosynthetic pathways. Gowers stressed that they think carefully about partnerships to work toward mutual benefits. Mwambingu explained that the agreements with partners are carefully written to explain short and long-term information sharing. Mwambingu also explained that their database is carefully set up to be transparent and link back to the permits. Gowers was asked about the sequencing. The company sequences both on-site and also deeper sequencing of samples of interest. This was an intriguing session as it combined responsible innovation and open sharing of information. This company and their work could be a very engaging and useful case study for courses I teach.
