Ginkgo Bioworks, a leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, and the Government of the Republic of Panama’s Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the intent to develop and implement new biosecurity capabilities in Latin America.
Ginkgo, through its biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, aims to support the Gorgas Institute as it builds Panama’s foundational bioeconomy that will serve not only the country, but also the surrounding region. These efforts will bolster Panama’s biosecurity infrastructure, giving the country key tools to detect, identify, and monitor current and future pathogens. It will also be Concentric’s first Latin American program, as the company continues to expand operations internationally.
As part of the program, Concentric will collaborate with the Gorgas Institute to strengthen their current surveillance infrastructure for COVID-19, as well as other respiratory and enteric pathogens, leveraging Concentric’s expertise in wastewater monitoring, lab enablement, and bioinformatics analysis and decision support.
The program is expected to operate in strategic locations that can help bolster both national and regional public health and security throughout Panama. These include, but are not limited to, wastewater surveillance in major urban centers like Panama City, as well as at ports-of-entry, including the border crossing in the Darien National Park and Tocumen International Airport (PTY).
By establishing these monitoring programs, Panama will become a critical node in Concentric’s global network that collects data to help public health and national security officials detect and respond to emerging biological threats. The information captured from these programs is expected to play a key role in strengthening not only Panama’s COVID-19 and novel pathogen detection infrastructure, but also provide key data for regional pandemic preparedness.
“We’re honored to collaborate with the Republic of Panama to strengthen the region’s health security capabilities through pathogen threat detection in Panama City and the Darien region,” said Matt McKnight, General Manager, Biosecurity at Ginkgo Bioworks. “Robust bio-surveillance in Panama is critical not only for the health of the country, but also for the security of the Western Hemisphere, and I am confident this partnership will strengthen health security in the region and the world.”
“These detection and monitoring programs are an important aspect of Panama’s public health initiatives. We are excited to collaborate with Concentric on these important biosecurity programs,” said Dr. Juan Miguel Pascale, General Director of Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies.
