 Right. So good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where you're joining us from today. I'm Miriam, a PhD researcher between the DAW Center for Future Crime and the Advanced Center for Biochemical Engineering here at the University College of London. I research biocrime, the internet of ingestible things, and cyber biosecurity. And alongside my research, I'm also co-founder and director of a medtech startup. My background is in deep tech and bioengineering, and I have experienced leading award-winning projects during my time at AstraZeneca and Microsoft, and I'm on a mission to build secure smart pills for smart health. Okay, I'll tell you what all that means with a brief background into the topic, then I'll dive into the approach that I've taken and what my intended outcomes are. So please do follow these icons on the right throughout the presentation. Right, so brief background. I want to point out to you that your DNA is only 0.1% unique to you, and that the ecosystem of microbes in your gut, your gut microbiome, is more than 90% unique to you. And how does your microbial signature then affect biocrime? Well, you may not know this, but you are more bacteria than you are actually you. What you live on and inside the human body make up five microbiomes, and the gut microbiome makes up at least 90% of the genes available to your metabolism. These are essential to things like your immunity, nutrition, and when they're imbalances with your gut microbiome, then it's associated to diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and even depression. As you age, the ecosystems of microbes to grow with you. And unlike DNA that can only reveal your genetic makeup, your gut microbiome can reveal your lifestyle, who you live with, if you live in the city, or if you have a pet, and believe it or not, social behavior. As your gut is linked to your brain through what's called the gut brain axis, both physically through the vagus nerve, but also indirectly through your gut microbiome, which controls metabolism, but can also modify behavior. Several studies have found that people who have larger social networks are more likely to have a greater gut microbiome diversity. There's also been a unique composition of gut bacteria identified and linked to behavior such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD. Don't believe me? Well, think about the food that you eat and your mood. Some food contains bacteria that make you more social if you eat it regularly and for long enough. And not getting enough of it may make you anti-social. A whole new meaning to the expression we are what we eat. It's no wonder why there's interest in accessing the gut through emerging internet connected digital pills. These swallowable smart pills contain sensors and have a relatively long history. NASA, for example, has been using these to help track their athletes core temperature for almost 15 years. Now, the problem is with emerging technology comes emerging crime opportunities. Health data is being sold in the black market at 20 times more than other types of data. I think your credit card credentials cannot be regenerated. You simply cannot regenerate your genome. So what does that mean for the security of valuable biological material? Yes, I mean you. Well, my research aims to underpin evidence based policymaking regarding biocrime and where relevant to change organizational culture and practices to improve national security. It's a systematic review published in the International Journal of Frontiers, edited and reviewed by members of the CDC, the US National University of Defense and Department of Health Services, and has reached more than 5000 experts worldwide. I have revealed the criminogenic potential of biotechnology specifically in synthetic biology, but I've also elicited the opinion of field experts with both traditional background such as governmental officials or security intelligence, but also non traditional experts, such as bio hackers, really extract different views on what crime opportunities might emerge. And both strongly agreed that biocrime will take place in this intersection of the cyber and bio domains, but that there are no current frameworks in place to really address these. In light of the pandemic here in the UK, the UK Parliament Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, published a call for evidence to really assess how prepared the government is for major biological security risks using COVID as a test case. And regrettably, it found profound shortcomings and how the government really safeguards national security. I contributed to this call and provided three key recommendations. Number one, create cyber biosecurity policy and standards to really strengthen our preparedness. Number two, adopt an experimental approach through ethical hacking as a harm reduction tactic. Number three, increase biotechnology and biosecurity literacy. Now, to demonstrate these key recommendations, I've led the very first Internet of Ingestible Things workshop supported by the Daw Center for Future Crime here at UCL and by partnering with a biohacking village. This workshop really brought cyber biosecurity experts and medical device regulatory bodies to really think about cyber biosecurity at the design stage of medical devices and to inform policy by delivering a set of principles. Because fundamentally, security is an innovation driver and is a business enabler. So what was our approach? Well, we call it the hybrid hackathon Delphi model, HHDM for short, and it has three phases. The first is the hackathon, so a design sprint like event bringing domain experts to collaborate intensely on a project. And within the stage we have contextual talks inviting stakeholders and speakers including leaders of cyber biosecurity and future crime research, cyber security professionals, medical device manufacturers, but also the users of the Ingestible devices themselves such as patients and clinicians. Stakeholders of the industries of interest come from a diverse set of backgrounds and form cross pollinated teams to submit their smart pill proposals. Phase two is the Delphi model. Here, the selected top three teams undergo a series of questioning to elicit opinions on a security by design framework relevant to the Internet of Ingestible Things. Finally, phase three, the teams actually prototype their ideated Ingestible Things device. So the HHDM really captures current and nuanced opinions of diverse field experts, whilst also generating these detailed hacking proposals, hence the hybrid. So how did we do. Well we had over 210 days at our pre hackathon talks 27 individual applicants and 17 applicants from a diverse set of backgrounds including pharma security intelligence neuroscience. They've generated over 500 ideas and the finalist teams engaged with more than 4000 people through their pitching videos and their public spokes raising security awareness for the emerging smart pill technology. So let's meet the finalists the three top teams and their smart pill designs and proposals. First up we have teams smart trace which design an Ingestible that would trace highly contagious infections such as the Norovirus but specifically on cruise ships during quarantine. Their proposal introduced the use of private blockchain for secure and transparent data transmission. Next up is team IBD activate. They had specialist skills in embedded systems for IoT or the Internet of Things, and they designed an Ingestible Things device for targeted micro dosing of anti inflammatory inflammatory drugs in the gut and this was for inflammatory disease patients so patients with chronic inflammation and it got their proposal focused on the need for firmware coding and telecommunication security tailored for clinical and patient acceptance. Finally, we had team biota AI which targeted the 10 to 15% of the worldwide population that is estimated to suffer from some sort of gastrointestinal issue. And they proposed a secure cloud communication system designed for this wider consumer health market. Okay, so what were our intended outcomes. Our intended outcomes were twofold. First, we wanted to demonstrate a red teaming proof of concept framework to be introduced to national security is a continuous cycle of inquiry in emerging technology to really aid national security decision making while using the ingestible medical devices as an example technology and test bed. In fact, there was a second call for evidence by the UK Parliament Joint Committee here related to how a red teaming approach can be introduced in national security that we contributed to. Secondly, we wanted to produce a policy briefing much like the biohacking community has itself related to the security required for the ingestible things ahead their wife ahead of their widespread use on the market. We asked our participants about crime forums the ingestible things may enable what relevant security should be put in place who the stakeholders are. And how the ingestible things should be governed. We also asked about what methods of communication related to the security, we can implement to consumers related on the security needs. Now we're currently working on this, and it will be published by the end of this summer so do stay tuned, but please be the first to find out by scanning the QR code that you see on the on the presentation to sign up to our newsletter be the first to find out when the policy briefing has been published. So far this research, supported by the DAW Center has led to a lot of knowledge transfer activities with highly specialized groups here in London, as well as presenting to over 200 policymakers at the UK Home Office. And it has been recognized and published by the UK Parliament Joint Committee of National Security, and has been featured in a series of special COVID-19 policing papers by the Jill Dando Institute and policing insights. Part of this research has also been commercialized into a MedTag startup that's supported by Innovate UK. This is ranked top five at last year's Mayor's Entrepreneur Health Award here in London, hosted by Sadiqa on the Mayor of London. I've also been shortlisted as Greek international woman of the year under science and technology. So in an increasingly health centered global economy, it is time for cybersecurity. So if you two are interested in prioritizing responsible health tech with a more biosavvy public that demands for secure solutions, then do please get in touch. Thank you for listening.