Using deep learning to detect digitally encoded DNA trigger for Trojan malware in Bio‑Cyber attacks

This article uses Deep Learning technologies to safeguard DNA sequencing against Bio-Cyber attacks. We consider a hybrid attack scenario where the payload is encoded into a DNA sequence to activate a Trojan malware implanted in a software tool used in the sequencing pipeline in order to allow the perpetrators to gain control over the resources used in that pipeline during sequence analysis. The scenario considered in the paper is based on perpetrators submitting synthetically engineered DNA samples that contain digitally encoded IP address and port number of the perpetrator’s machine in the DNA. Genetic analysis of the sample’s DNA will decode the address that is used by the software Trojan malware to activate and trigger a remote connection. This approach can open up to multiple perpetrators to create connections to hijack the DNA sequencing pipeline. As a way of hiding the data, the perpetrators can avoid detection by encoding the address to maximise similarity with genuine DNAs, which we showed previously. However, in this paper we show how Deep Learning can be used to successfully detect and identify the trigger encoded data, in order to protect a DNA sequencing pipeline from Trojan attacks. The result shows nearly up to 100% accuracy in detection in such a novel Trojan attack scenario even after applying fragmentation encryption and steganography on the encoded trigger data. In addition, feasibility of designing and synthesizing encoded DNA for such Trojan payloads is validated by a wet lab experiment

Emerging Threats of Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology

Synthetic biology is a field of biotechnology that is rapidly growing in various applications, such as in medicine, environmental sustainability, and energy production. However these technologies also have unforeseen risks and applications to humans and the environment. This open access book presents discussions on risks and mitigation strategies for these technologies including biosecurity, or the potential of synthetic biology technologies and processes to be deliberately misused for nefarious purposes. The book presents strategies to prevent, mitigate, and recover from ‘dual-use concern’ biosecurity challenges that may be raised by individuals, rogue states, or non-state actors. Several key topics are explored including opportunities to develop more coherent and scalable approaches to govern biosecurity from a laboratory perspective up to the international scale and strategies to prevent potential health and environmental hazards posed by deliberate misuse of synthetic biology without stifling innovation. The book brings together the expertise of top scholars in synthetic biology and biotechnology risk assessment, management, and communication to discuss potential biosecurity governing strategies and offer perspectives for collaboration in oversight and future regulatory guidance

Nanotechnology approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance: novel therapeutics and diagnostics

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global issue caused by misuse of antibiotics and a lack of new antibiotics coming to market. Combating the development of AMR requires the development of new antimicrobial agents to treat bacterial infections and better diagnostic tools for improved stewardship. This thesis describes novel approaches to address these issues using nanotechnology. The main technique employed in these studies was atomic force microscopy (AFM), used in both conventional imaging mode and in an innovative sensing capacity. From a therapeutic perspective, the mechanism of action of novel antimicrobial structures (protein / DNA) were studied, using real-time imaging on model membranes and live E. coli cells. Nanometre resolution was achieved on both systems, allowing rapid membrane poration and subsequent cell death to be observed for a de novo designed antimicrobial peptide and a pioneering antimicrobial DNA-lipid origami structure. In addition, this thesis describes the first visualisation of the Membrane Attack Complex (MAC) on live bacterial cells showing remarkable similarity with the recently solved cryo-EM structure. In working to develop novel phenotypic diagnostic tools for AMR, we report on a novel antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) device. This device uses single cell optical interference to provide a rapid (∼45 min) and simple measure of the effect of antimicrobials on suspended bacterial cells. Homebuilt code was developed to analyse datasets, allowing antibiotic sensitivity to be systematically determined for lab and clinical strains of E. coli. This thesis provides insights into a number of potential avenues to pursue in the face of increasing AMR, with future work entailing moving the described from the lab closer to clinical use

Cyber-Human Systems, Space Technologies, and Threats

CYBER-HUMAN SYSTEMS, SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, AND THREATS is our eighth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs / CUAS/ UUVs / SPACE. Other textbooks in our series are Space Systems Emerging Technologies and Operations; Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD); Disruptive Technologies with applications in Airline, Marine, Defense Industries; Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land; Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies and Operations; Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 2nd edition; and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Cyber Domain Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 1st edition. Our previous seven titles have received considerable global recognition in the field. (Nichols & Carter, 2022) (Nichols, et al., 2021) (Nichols R. K., et al., 2020) (Nichols R. , et al., 2020) (Nichols R. , et al., 2019) (Nichols R. K., 2018) (Nichols R. K., et al., 2022)https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1052/thumbnail.jp

Using iron to catch a ride - synthetic siderophores as molecular 'Trojan Horses' to visualize and treat MDR bacterial pathogens

The rise in multidrug-resistant, bacterial infections, together with a shallow industrial discovery pipeline, urgently calls for novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Bacterial cells, particularly Gram-negative pathogens with their double-layered cell wall, closely resemble a fortress that restricts the accumulation of small molecules. However, microbial transporters ensure a sufficient nutrient supply during infection of a host organism and act as gateways into the pathogen, e.g. for ferric iron, which plays a crucial role in microbial metabolism and growth. Siderophores, small bacterial molecule chelators, sequester Fe3+ from host proteins and are transported by bacterial, TonB-dependent transporters (TBDTs). Like a molecular “Trojan Horse”, synthetic siderophore mimics can hijack the siderophore transport system and actively translocate diagnostic or therapeutic payloads over the impervious bacterial membrane and accumulate at their site of action. This thesis expanded and evaluated the potential of synthetic and natural siderophores for the visualization and antibiotic therapy of MDR bacteria in cellular and in vivo. The structure of the DOTAM triscatecholate siderophore was adapted for an application as a bacteria-specific, gallium-68 labeled PET tracer for the detection of bacterial infections in vivo. Two tracers showed good in vitro, radiochemical and pharmacokinetic properties in vivo and selectively accumulated at the site of infection vs. a site of sterile inflammation. Similarly, chemiluminescent dioxetanes were attached to siderophores to yield a panel of siderophore dioxetane probes that detected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. The best compound exhibited superior stability in bacterial supernatant, detected low bacterial counts and even intracellular bacteria in infected lung epithelial cells. In an attempt to enhance the accumulation in Gram-negative bacteria and thus restore the activity of antibiotics used only against Gram-positive bacteria (e.g. lipopeptides, ansamycins, macrolides), chelators were conjugated via covalent and cleavable linker systems, to yield potent drug conjugates. Studies on siderophore receptor mutants of E. coli and P. aeruginosa, including transcriptomic and proteomic investigations, contributed information on the involved siderophore transporters as well as on the mechanistic response upon siderophore and conjugate addition. Peptide siderophore conjugates that target the TonB-dependent transport of ferric chelates in Pseudomonas successfully inhibited bacterial growth. This proof-of-concept established TonB as a novel target in antimicrobial therapy. The design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic siderophore conjugates represents an important milestone towards a clinical usage of this approach against MDR ESKAPE bacteria

Dalla molecola al paziente: la ricerca oncologica fra laboratori scientifici e spazi clinici

BACKGROUND This PhD dissertation looks at ways to “translate” knowledge and techniques of molecular oncology into novel clinical applications. Using translational research in the field of molecular oncology as a case study, my investigation examines the social interaction between activities in medicine and in research and development and between medical staff and scientists. From a theoretical point of view, my reflection about translational research contrasts with the pipeline representations that social theorists have often adopted, where the trajectory of the translational imperative is shown as both linear and progressive. In this text, I analyse and describe the character of translational research in biomedicine as a new style of practice. This concept points to the complex and heterogeneous set of places and interactions that make up translational research in the molecular oncology domain and the subsequent shaping of new technologies of life and clinical objects, such as new molecular diagnostic tests. My work highlights the fact that translational biomedicine is a complex socio-technical area where research in molecular oncology is performed through heterogeneous practices and various actors are engaged in the construction of new clinical technologies and objects, regulations and cures for disease. The observations I have made over the past year, through ethnographic research in two different settings, have led me to recognize translational research as a complex mixture of the mutual interaction between different disciplines, practices, technologies and forward-looking statements about the future of medicine. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The main goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the respective sociological literature about medicine, science and society by providing an alternative and empirically based understanding of translational biomedicine in action. In order to do this, I provide descriptive ethnographic material through observing both clinical and research activities in molecular oncology. I then explore the ways in which scientists relate to the clinical practices governing their fields and examine how different actors and practitioners handle communication between scientific laboratories and clinical spaces. RESEARCH METHODS This study draws on empirical data gathered through ethnographic observation in laboratories and clinical trials, and through documentary analysis and interviews with scientists, clinicians, those who coordinate experiments and data manager

Treatments for Squamous Cell Cancer

Squamous cell cancer (SCC) development and recent preclinical and clinical advances for the effective prevention and treatment of the disease are covered in this book. Experts in the field describe here the cellular and molecular events in SCC development, recurrence, and metastasis, and provide an updated snapshot on our understanding of the heterogeneity of SCC pathogenesis with novel opportunities in precision therapeutics to achieve better clinical outcomes

CANADA’S BIOTECHNOLOGY STRATEGY: STRUGGLES ON THE KNOWLEDGE COMMONS

This research critically analyses a number of the social, economic, environmental, and informational questions that attach to biotechnology in the context of Canada’s Biotechnology Strategy. A neo-Marxist biopolitical framework that draws on a number of theoretical elements from autonomist Marxism informs the conceptual scheme. Much like Marx’s methodological orientation based on the perspective of the working class rooted in its own historical activity, contemporary efforts at understanding and situating the current conjuncture of capitalist social relations can be advanced through research into the genealogy of social and political opposition movements. By apprehending these emerging subjectivities we might begin developing a new social vision of our own era. It is precisely those struggles mobilised around biotechnology issues in Canada that this research seeks to elaborate. Drawing on documentary analysis and interviews, the research seeks to determine the role the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy has played in commodifying biotechnology and biotechnological information as part of the social factory, and to interrogate the counter struggles that have emerged to resist the enclosure of the biological and the knowledge commons, with emphasis on the information and knowledge issues encompassed by such struggles. A basic presupposition of this research is that the commodification of biotechnology, as a branch of science that has assumed a central role in production as a source of new knowledge, offers an exemplary case study of both the mobilisation of the social factory in contemporary society and the scope of counter struggles that, themselves, include a variety of information and knowledge issue

Data ethics : building trust : how digital technologies can serve humanity

Data is the magic word of the 21st century. As oil in the 20th century and electricity in the 19th century: For citizens, data means support in daily life in almost all activities, from watch to laptop, from kitchen to car, from mobile phone to politics. For business and politics, data means power, dominance, winning the race. Data can be used for good and bad, for services and hacking, for medicine and arms race. How can we build trust in this complex and ambiguous data world? How can digital technologies serve humanity? The 45 articles in this book represent a broad range of ethical reflections and recommendations in eight sections: a) Values, Trust and Law, b) AI, Robots and Humans, c) Health and Neuroscience, d) Religions for Digital Justice, e) Farming, Business, Finance, f) Security, War, Peace, g) Data Governance, Geopolitics, h) Media, Education, Communication. The authors and institutions come from all continents. The book serves as reading material for teachers, students, policy makers, politicians, business, hospitals, NGOs and religious organisations alike. It is an invitation for dialogue, debate and building trust! The book is a continuation of the volume “Cyber Ethics 4.0” published in 2018 by the same editors