Deploying Biotechnology at Scale Through Systems Integration to Combat COVID-19

This chapter highlights the imperative for large-scale, integrated solutions to address and preempt biological crises, emphasizing the need for innovation and operational agility. The focus of the chapter is a case study of Concentric by Ginkgo, Ginkgo Bioworks’ outbreak suppression offering. Concentric partnered extensively with the public sector to help mount a nationwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, through operating end-to-end pooled testing programs in thousands of K-12 schools. Concentric’s solution connects data analytics, operational execution, and signal collection on a massive scale through the integration of physical assets, technologies, and digital outputs. This approach for biosecurity and biosurveillance infrastructure forms the basis for an effective early warning system that seamlessly detects, intercepts, and mitigates biothreats, establishing a critical capability for future large-scale responses.