This thesis explores the politics of biosecurity and the governance of dual-use research. It focuses on life sciences, whose rapid development brings together the issues of biological weapons, terrorism, and the dangers of scientific innovations. The thesis has three goals: first, to situate the dilemma of dual-use research historically and conceptually, second, to analyse how the attempts to govern biosecurity and regulate dual-use research in life sciences affect the relations between science and security, and third, to discuss what implications this science-security nexus has for the politics of (in)security. Approaching the subject from critical security studies, the thesis looks at how the nexus between science and security is constructed. It does so, first, by exploring the dominant political and expert discourses on biosecurity and by looking at two distinct empirical sites, which exemplify how a regime of biosecurity governance evolves at a boundary of science and security in a 'global' and 'local' context: the international biological weapons regime and the Czech system of biosecurity management. The thesis finds that the attempts to govern dual-use research in life sciences focus not only on materials and technologies but also on scientific knowledge. It conceptualizes dual-use as a problem of...

In the current post-pandemic climate biosecurity has emerged as a topic of importance and has further played a dominant role in regard to governance throughout the pandemic. Specifically, NATO’s latest set of policy recommendations to transatlantic biosecurity is the subject of scrutiny in this study, with the findings implying a discursive process of militarization. Guided by Bacchi’s WPR approach (2009), a poststructuralist policy analysis, this study sets out to oust the‘problem’ representations in NATO’s discourse and the logics that underpin them. Additionally, concepts of risk management and the Post-Copenhagen School support the identification of ‘problem’ representations identified aligned with the research purpose. Unexpected the vast body of academic literature ill attempts to produce counter discourse, where this research is embedded. This study argues from the analysis that a discourse originating from the conventionalist security-realm is dominating contemporary conceptions of biosecurity, whilst silencing others. What the NATO report manages to present is a very tangible threat actor with an increasing horizon of possibility of hostile bio-acts, of yet fearsome, unknown character, although what is left opaque is the role of Mother Nature. The study reflects on the motivation of the attempted discursive practice to channel biosecurity into a security-realm, which omits threats of ecological character and solely promoting the existential threat to derive from man. Which finally, is used to justify restrains to public engagement and openness.

This thesis conducts an analysis of the Intersessional Process (ISP) of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) between 2001 and 2006. Specifically, it aims to assess the extent to which the ISP has resulted in progress towards strengthening the BTWC. The fulfilment of the research aim is derived from three discrete approaches: firstly, an assessment of problems and weaknesses faced by the Convention; secondly, an assessment of common or converging understandings around measures to respond to such problems and weaknesses; and thirdly, an assessment of what effective action has been achieved between 2001 and 2006. To achieve this, this thesis uses a framework that structures the assessment around four dimensions of the BTWC and their evolution within a changing geostrategic and scientific context. The four dimensions identified are compliance, development, institutional and research. The conclusions drawn from this thesis suggest that although the compliance dimension has made some considerable progress in the area of national legislation and biosafety and biosecurity, it remains clear that other areas of the compliance dimension remain underdeveloped and deeply divisive. The development dimension has also made progress over the course of the ISP and, significantly, achieved much greater convergence in its focus around disease surveillance and detection. However, changing dynamics in security and science have negatively affected other areas of the development dimension. In terms of the institutional dimension, there has been a modest progress with regard to the BTWC¿s institutional and procedural evolution; however, legitimate concerns remain in relation to quantity and quality of membership of the BTWC relative to other agreements. Finally, there has been some motion towards the emergence of a more coherent dimension of research; although certain advances in science research remain neglected in the BTWC forum, and the issue of biodefence has been conspicuously absent from discussion during the ISP. Based on the analysis conducted, this thesis argues that the BTWC has made cautious progress over the course of the ISP, and there is evidence of a convergence in responses and effective action in some areas. However, there is insufficient evidence to suggest there has been ¿major progress towards strengthening the Convention¿ and many issues require much greater attention.

Agroterrorism is the deliberate introduction of a plant or animal disease with thegoal of causing fear, economic instability, illness, or death. After the 2002 terroristattacks on the World Trade Center, the security of the food supply is of increasingconcern to the United States. A major incidence of agroterrorism or food tampering would have far reaching impacts on the economy and public health. The first objective of this project was to determine knowledge and concern of agroterrorism in meat processing facilities in Kentucky, and to determine knowledge and concern of food tampering and food defense in food service establishments in Warren County, Kentucky. The second objective was to determine security strategies that were being implemented by these facilities. Two separate surveys, one for meat processors and the other for food service establishments, were designed to meet these objectives. An observational study was conducted for meat processing facilities. It was found that these facilities were generally unconcerned with agroterrorism, although a reasonable amount of security implementations were in place at these facilities. A statistical comparison between restaurants and non-restaurant food service establishments, such as schools, hospitals, and hotels, was performed. Both types of food service establishments expressed little concern about a food tampering event. Non- restaurant food service establishments were slightly more concerned than restaurants about both food tampering and food defense.

La multiplication des résistances aux antibiothérapies actuelles et l’utilisation potentielle de bactéries pathogènes dans le cadre d’attentats bioterroristes rendent nécessaire la recherche de nouvelles cibles biologiques et la découverte de nouvelles stratégies antibiotiques. Dans ce contexte, les mécanismes d’assimilation du fer chez les bactéries à Gram négatif sont des cibles particulièrement prometteuses. Le fer est en effet un élément essentiel à la vie, mais peu biodisponible. Les bactéries ont donc développé des mécanismes efficaces pour subvenir à leurs besoins en fer. Ces mécanismes de transport nécessitent un apport d’énergie fourni par une machinerie bactérienne complexe, la machinerie TonB. La protéine TonB, qui joue un rôle central dans le fonctionnement de cette machinerie, est la cible de notre approche. Nous souhaitons séquestrer cette protéine dans le périplasme grâce à des composés peptidiques fonctionnalisés par des hétérocycles de type isoindole ou 1,2,4-triazine. La conception et la synthèse de ces molécules sont présentées dans ce manuscrit, ainsi que leurs perspectives de vectorisation en utilisant une stratégie dite du "cheval de Troie". Notre contribution à la mise au point d’un test d’affinité in vitro est également abordée. / The increasing resistances to the current antibiotherapies, and the potential use of pathogenic bacteria as biological weapons led us to the absolute necessity of discovering new biological targets and new antibiotic strategies. In this context, iron uptake pathways of Gram negative bacteria are promising targets. Indeed, iron is an essential nutrient, but it has a low bioavailability. Bacteria have developed efficient iron uptake pathways in order to proliferate. Iron is transported in the bacterial cell by specific outer membrane transporters and thanks to the energy provided by a complex molecular machinery, called TonB. The TonB protein, which is the keystone of this machinery, is a key target for the development of new antibiotics. We would like to sequester this protein in the periplasm thanks to molecules constituted of a peptidic moiety and a heterocyclic moiety such as isoindole or 1,2,4-triazine. The conception and the synthesis of these compounds are presented in this document, as well as their possibilities to be vectorized using a “Trojan Horse” strategy. Our contribution to the development of an in vitro test of affinity is presented as well.

Les microorganismes représentent la forme de vie la plus diverse et abondante sur Terre et jouent un rôle fondamental dans tous les processus biologiques. Cependant, du fait de la grande diversité des communautés microbiennes, la caractérisation fine des environnements complexes reste difficile par les approches moléculaires actuelles de PCR et de métagénomique. En effet, ces approches ne conduisent qu’à une caractérisation partielle des communautés et ne permettent pas systématiquement d’associer la structure des communautés aux fonctions métaboliques réalisées. L’approche de capture de gènes par hybridation appliquée à des échantillons métagénomiques complexes a démontré son intérêt pour révéler toute la diversité connue mais aussi inconnue des biomarqueurs fonctionnels ciblés, ainsi que pour enrichir leurs régions flanquantes sur quelques centaines de permettant en évidence des associations de gènes. Ainsi, les travaux de thèse ont visé à développer une nouvelle méthode de capture de gènes par hybridation capable d’enrichir de façon ciblée de larges régions génomiques à partir d’échantillons complexes, permettant ainsi de faire le lien entre structure et fonction des communautés microbiennes. Ces développements ont nécessité la détermination de sondes de capture, l’utilisation d’une méthode d’extraction d’ADN de haut poids moléculaire et la mise au point d’un protocole de capture permettant de piéger des fragments nucléiques de grande taille (jusqu’à 50 kb). La validation de la méthode de capture par hybridation sur un échantillon environnemental de sol a permis de révéler tout son potentiel. Appliquée au gène exprimant l’ARNr 16S, cette stratégie a permis de révéler une diversité microbienne non accessible par les approches moléculaires conventionnelles, avec une résolution d’identification jusqu'au niveau de l’espèce rendue possible grâce à la reconstruction de la séquence complète de ce marqueur phylogénétique. Appliquée à un gène fonctionnel, elle a conduit à la reconstruction de la séquence du biomarqueur et de ses régions flanquantes pouvant atteindre plusieurs dizaines de kb, permettant d’identifier les microorganismes possédant les capacités métaboliques d’intérêt. Ainsi, la capture par hybridation représente une approche alternative prometteuse pour le diagnostic environnemental en conduisant à une meilleure caractérisation des communautés microbiennes. / Microorganisms are the most diverse and abundant life forms on Earth and are key players in thefunctioning of all biological processes. Nevertheless, PCR and metagenomics strategies aiming to describemicrobial communities are hampered by their huge diversity. Indeed, these molecular methods only drive to apartial description of communities and do not systematically allow linking functions back to the identities of themicroorganisms. Hybridization capture applied to complex metagenomic samples has demonstrated its efficiency to reveal all known and unknown diversity of targeted biomarkers, and to enrich their flanking regions over a few hundred bp facilitating the discovery of gene associations.Thus, this work aimed at developing a new hybridization capture method capable of specifically enrichinglarge genomic regions from complex samples allowing to associate structure and functions of communities. Thedevelopment of this method required the design of capture probes, the use of a high molecular weight DNAextraction method, and the elaboration of a capture protocol dedicated to the enrichment of large genomicfragments (up to 50 kbp).The validation of the hybridization capture method on an environmental soil sample uncovered all itspotential. Applied to the 16S rRNA gene, this strategy revealed greater microbial diversity than conventionalmolecular methods and improved phylogenetic resolution up to the species level thanks to the reconstruction offull-length genes. Applied to a functional gene, the method enabled the reconstruction of large genomic regionscarrying the targeted biomarker and its flanking regions over several tens of kbp, leading to the identification ofmicroorganisms with specific metabolic functions. Hybridization capture thus appears as a promising alternativemethod for environmental diagnosis, through providing a better knowledge of microbial communities.