Aparupa Sengupta served as a Senior Program Officer for NTI’s Global Biological Policy and Programs team (NTI | bio). In this role, she supported the Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction Initiative (BIRRI) to reduce risks of biotechnology catastrophe. This included efforts to advance the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS), a new international entity NTI is launching to safeguard science and reduce the risk of catastrophic events that could result from deliberate abuse or accidental misuse of bioscience and biotechnology.
Sengupta is an accomplished scientist and global health security practitioner with more than 15 years of research, regulatory, and training experience across the fields of infectious disease containment, biosafety and biosecurity, and global biological risk reduction. Prior to joining NTI in 2022, she served at the University of California (Merced campus), where she initiated and led their biosafety and biosecurity programs, first, as the campus biosafety-biosecurity officer since May 2018 and then as the Assistant Director for Environmental Health and Safety and Director of High Containment Research Laboratories. From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as the COVID-19 response subject matter expert at the institution’s Emergency Operation Center. Prior to 2018, Sengupta was a Biosafety Officer at Rutgers University, where she managed an Institutional Biosafety Committee that reviews biological risks related to infectious disease and recombinant DNA research, and she led multiple projects related to CRISPR/Cas9 and other emerging technologies and their potential implications in the biosafety-biosecurity realm.
Sengupta is an active member of American Biological Safety International (ABSA Int.), where she plays key leadership roles in multiple committees; to highlight- Chair, Publications Committee and Co-Chair, International Engagement Committee. She also teaches pre-conference courses in the field of gene editing and related to other emerging technologies, and she has been invited to give many talks in the U.S. and internationally, advocating for the safe and secure use of emerging recombinant technologies in the evolving field of biosciences.
Sengupta holds a PhD in Microbiology & Applied Biochemistry and MS in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology from Michigan Technological University and a MSc in Biotechnology from Bangalore University, India. Sengupta is also a Registered Biosafety Professional (RBP) with ABSA International.
Some of the world’s largest AI companies—Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic—have warned that their models could be misused to cause harm with biology. The India AI Impact Summit is a critical moment for policymakers, scientists, developers, and biosecurity experts to work together on responsible governance that reduces AIxBio risks.
Life science research moves quickly. But not all research carries the same level or type of risk. For funders, the challenge is to identify risks early—without slowing critical research. And now there's a straightforward tool to help address this.
Mirror life operates outside the assumptions that underpin modern biosafety, biosecurity, and medical surveillance, meaning the policy challenge is not only what to regulate — but how to govern a technology that doesn’t yet exist.
Past Project Establishing stronger norms and practices to prevent accidents, misuse, and other adverse outcomes of life science research
Past Project Safeguarding modern bioscience and biotechnology so it can advance and flourish safely and responsibly
Advances in biotechnology outpace national governments’ ability to provide needed oversight to prevent accidents or deliberate misuse of dangerous biological agents.
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