A team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently coordinated a series of international workshops in Bulgaria and Romania. The events aimed at enhancing chemical research security and fostering collaboration among scientists and academic researchers from both countries.

“Research security is an emerging field internationally—bad actors are continuously finding new ways to illicitly acquire pharmaceutical research to support chemical weapons programs. These workshops were integral in training academics to protect their intellectual property, technologies, and data,” said Yavana Ganesh, national security specialist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

The workshops specifically focused on protecting dual-use chemical and pharmaceutical research, which, if misused, could lead to the development of a chemical weapon. Ganesh, Samuel Ortega, and Aaron Melville conducted two 1-day chemical research security workshops for 13 Bulgarian and 21 Romanian academic and industry representatives. The team worked to build close partnerships with prominent university leaders at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, to co-host these “Strengthening International Chemical Research Security for Scientists and Academic Researchers” workshops. 

At the Bulgaria engagement, participating universities and organizations included New Bulgarian University, Knowledge Access Organization Agriffin, Pfizer, the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Health and Life Science Cluster, and the Biological Science Board. Workshop participants engaged in a discussion of ways to protect clinical and emerging pharmaceutical research, ways to prevent the misuse of chemical knowledge, and opportunities for continued collaboration. 

The Romania engagement engaged participants from the Carol Davila University pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary departments, along with industry representatives from Procter and Gamble and AC Helcor. Workshop participants discussed the challenges of securing research during the patenting process, developing processes for sensitive pharmaceutical information, and developing increased cybersecurity practices.

The workshop was conducted as part of PNNL’s continued support of the Department of State Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction, specifically the Chemical Security Program.