Hi all.
I want to do a project for my military service in bioinformatics area. I have to determine the subject myself. I have been search a lot but I could not find any military application of bioinformatics.
Would you please help me to find some source?
TNX all,
Mansoor
Dear hasani.iut6,
I think this papers can help you to start think about bioinformatic and military service or military defence.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20230234
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289626/
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1983-80422013000200020
The important question in this context should be if such applications are desirable and whether it is morally defendable to take part in such research. Refer for example Biological Weapons Convention. To put it clear, any attempt to contribute to the development or applicability (including vaccine development with the aim of protection of own forces) of biological weapons would be a crime against humanity, and that is not just an opinion but a worldwide consensus.
Bioinformatics - like other fields of research - does not exist in a vacuum, instead research is an important part of society. Therefore, there needs to be a broad discussion about research ethics and I think it is time for bioinformatics to come out of its ivory tower. Probably, there are currently few military applications of bioinformatics, and they seem to be mostly defensive in nature, but that does not have to stay like that. Other parts of computer science are effectively already more advanced in this respect. Take the discussion about autonomous weapon systems as an example.
I think that the original post is in fact controversial and one could argue for closing but I was hoping for some more critical remarks.
In your opinion, does this paper represent a crime against humanity?
Hmm, what is your opinion on that? I think it has been discussed a lot in the media whether it was responsible to the release the mutations that could turn the virus into a potent human pathogen to the public. This is a paper though, it is not a weapon, - and I clearly emphasized on the development of weapons. My personal opinion is however that this is borderline, possibly I personally wouldn't have shared the info. I think it is comparable to the case to publish on nuclear fission vs. building the H-bomb (unfortunately a timely comparison).
Just to be clear again, there is no moral high-ground here, but at least ethics need to be taken into consideration by the individual researcher. And also I wanted to use the opportunity to ask OP if he/she is pretty sure about that this is the right thing to do, because I'm not.
I don't disagree that as researchers we have an ethical situation to consider. In this particular case, call me naive maybe, but I did not assume that the OP would be attempting anything malicious in nature, and that rather it would constitute some kind of biodefense research - hence my answer was something along the lines of a topic I can only perceive as a defensive one, i.e. detection of, and therefore protection from, pathogenic agents.
Sure, I don't think anyone would come here for an introduction on bioterrorism, however, the question was raised as it was, and my answer is about 50% of the answer. Also, bear in mind that a means of defense can be instrumental for an offense as well.
Also, when we talk about military applications in general, then of course weapons come to mind.
The Australian Department of Defence Science & Technology use bioinformatics in the areas of defence against biological and chemical threats. Perhaps look at publications with this affiliation to get some ideas.
https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/capability/chemical-and-biological-defence
Hi Biostars It's great that you are willing to help scientists in need, I just want to remind you that the army he's serving in is fighting alongside Bashar el Assad in Syria, attacking civilians with nonconventional weapons and active in other crimes against humanity. Please take a moment to think about it.
Apparently someone thought my comment was not in place and deleted it. I re-opened it since I think this is highly relevant for us as humans and scientists. The question might sound a bit general and clueless but the principle should be the same. If the asker would to ask about chemical weapon would you cooperate? Missile physics? This is no different.
I deleted it. It's offtopic. This is not a politics forum. Should us humans and scientists write something about an apartheid regime following every question posted by someone from Israel? I would delete those posts too. Something to consider. I'm not going to engage in any further debate concerning this.
In my view the entire post is off-topic. I don't look at the nationality of people I respond to, I don't care at all and on the contrary, I love to help people from Arab or Muslim countries. Regarding your suggestion, yes, if someone asked a question specifically related to unethical issues I would raise a red flag as I did here.
It's an interesting question and worthy of discussion, but it's not a hypothetical, at least. As a recent example, one can look at the public health and national security controversies over publishing H5N1 research by Kawaoka and Fouchier, for instance. Scientists and engineers are often more concerned with making tools than the ethics of their use.
Detection of pathogens, particularly those pertinent to biosecurity/terror, is a common task.
Actually creating a tool wouls be pretty easy, but you probably need to come up with a new method that improves on existing ones in some form. E.g. is faster, easier to deploy or uses some biological basis that no one has thought of before.
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/bsp.2009.0024
Found that within 30 seconds of googling "bioterrorism and bioinformatics". I suggest you just spend some time reading in the area and see if you can spot an opportunity. No one here is going to be able to invent a project for you though.
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version 2.3.6
Dear hasani.iut6,
Just to ask you directly, are you sure this is the right thing to do and have you considered the ethical consequences of your results?
All the best Michael
Dear Michael,
I just saw the conversation on my topic right now, Actually these ways of thinking that some you have are very uncomfortable and make me really sad. I don't wanna to do some work against the humanity however If I wanted, I didn't look up for that here, biostars is a forum for scientists that want to help each other. You think that anyone that living in Iran is a terrorist. I am really sorry for you.
best regards.
Mansoor.
I don't think anyone believes that all Iranians are terrorists. Rather, many of us have concerns about military-related research, since it's often a small step to convert defensive capacities to offensive capacities (e.g., if you know how pathogen detection works, then you can modify pathogens to avoid detection). While Iran has its own set of issues, the broader concerns apply to interacting with all militaries.
Dear Mansoor,
I can assure you my answer would have been equally worded whatever your country of residence, (be it USA,Germany,Russia, or Norway) and certainly I do not believe that anyone from Iran is specifically prone to be a terrorist. In fact, you have touched on a heated discussion point for the site, that is of relevance beyond your particular personal case.
As you were asking for military applications specifically, there are possible applications of "sword" and "shield" or offense and defense, however to draw the line is not always that clear, and in addition every side will claim that their measures are purely of defensive nature. This is irrespective of your intentions, which I do not know and will not judge, but believe are all good and well in nature.
For the offense part of military applications in question, as in use of a weapon, there is no room for interpretation, these should not exist, and that is half of the answer to the original question posed by you.
For the defensive portion, there is more room for interpretation, but even there it is possible to achieve something bad while having all the best intentions.
Dear Mansoor, I was the one raising this point. For a moment I didn't think your goal is to develop bioterrorist, I know you are a scientist and your goals are for humanity. However, when you are developing tools for the army, and in this case an army involved in inhumane activities you don't always know what will be the application of your work.
I didn't know that this question might cause this much concern. I was just looking for a bioinformatics topic that can be accepted in a military organization not necessarily for offensive or defensive purpose, I had no idea for the topic so I posed that here to find some hint.
Your original title "military application of bioinformatics" for this post was not an appropriate choice. If you had just asked "looking for a bioinformatics project to do during military rotation".
but even though, still will be in military orientation I think !!
I can't change the whole purpose