Printing custom DNA sequences is essential to scientific and biomedical research, but the technology can be used to manufacture plagues as well as cures. Just as ink printers recognize and reject attempts to counterfeit money, DNA synthesizers and assemblers should deny unauthorized requests to make viral DNA that could be used to ignite a pandemic. There are three complications. First, we don't need to quickly update printers to deal with newly discovered currencies, whereas we regularly learn of new viruses and other biological threats. Second, anti-counterfeiting specifications on a local printer can't be extracted and misused by malicious actors, unlike information on biological threats. Finally, any screening must keep the inspected DNA sequences private, as they may constitute valuable trade secrets. Here we describe SecureDNA, a free, privacy-preserving, and fully automated system capable of verifiably screening all DNA synthesis orders of 30+ base pairs against an up-to-date database of hazards, and its operational performance and specificity when applied to 67 million base pairs of DNA synthesized by providers in the United States, Europe, and China.

翻译：打印定制DNA序列对科学和生物医学研究至关重要，但该技术既可制造解药，也能制造瘟疫。如同墨水打印机能够识别并拒绝伪造货币的尝试，DNA合成与组装设备也应拒绝对可能引发大流行的病毒DNA的未授权请求。这面临三个难题：首先，我们无需频繁更新打印机以应对新发现的货币，却需要定期应对新病毒及其他生物威胁；其次，本地打印机的防伪规范不会被恶意行为者提取和滥用，而生物威胁信息则存在此风险；最后，任何筛查流程必须对受检DNA序列保密，因为这些序列可能构成宝贵的商业机密。本文介绍SecureDNA系统，这是一个免费、隐私保护且完全自动化的系统，能够基于最新危害数据库，对所有30个碱基对以上的DNA合成订单进行可验证筛查。我们展示了该系统对来自美国、欧洲及中国供应商合成的6700万碱基对DNA进行应用时的运行性能与特异性。