Readings from the other desks

The genomics baseline is read through each steward’s lens, then once as a whole. Each lens is a projection of reviewed findings, not a separate argument. The other desks’ own editions of this subject are listed first, as cross-references, not copies.

15 min read0 figures8 tables36 notesNR-XTECH-GENOMICS-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE

Contents

6.1The other desks’ editions of this subject

Federation: each desk writes its own edition for the subjects in its remit. Until a desk releases, its edition shows its frame and the reading this edition printed for it.

Desk	Edition	State
GCRI Systems Evidence	No edition of this subject at this desk in the 2026 Baseline cycle	Not in this cycle
GRF Public Deliberation	Outside this desk’s remit	Not in remit
GRA Capital Readiness	Outside this desk’s remit	Not in remit
Standards Progress	No edition of this subject at this desk in the 2026 Baseline cycle	Not in this cycle
Academy Capability	No edition of this subject at this desk in the 2026 Baseline cycle	Not in this cycle
Index Measurement	Outside this desk’s remit	Not in remit

6.2Three lenses

One edition, read by each steward. The lens of this site comes first.

GCRI · KEY T

Technical Truth

The evidence supports reading genomics as data infrastructure and as a therapeutic technology. Results are strong for one therapy family and for reference data, and the physical, cost and supply layers are thinly measured. Evidence is strongest for single peer-reviewed results, and weakest for energy, cost and treatment counts.

HLT-001 · DAT-006 · GOV-011 · SYS-012

GRF · KEY M

Public Meaning

For most people the genomics story arrives as a cure headline, a data-privacy scare or a price. The baseline asks that public debate separate peer-reviewed results from company claims, and keep consent over genetic data in view.

HLT-001 · HLT-004 · DAT-007

GRA · KEY F

Capital Meaning

Readiness implications only. Revenue is small, access depends on cost and manufacturing capacity, and one-time prices raise payment questions⁶⁷. These show where finance-readiness evidence will matter. Nothing here is advice, a rating or an approval.

FIN-005 · HLT-002

NEXUS

Synthesis

Genomics is well described by single results and thinly measured as a system. The 2027 programme should count treatments, publish a comparable footprint and test the delivery pathway before more bespoke therapies reach patients.

SYS-012 · Q-01 · Q-02

6.3Standards, Academy and steward contributions

How the Nexus Standards drafts, the Risk Academy and the three stewards feed each quarterly edition for genomics. The standards are a preparatory working draft (2026) and are cited as drafts, never as adopted standards.

Table 6.1The quarterly rhythm every edition follows
Quarter	Edition	Question	Boundary
Q1	State and Agenda	What matters this year, and what is the starting position?	observed baseline stays distinct from planned work
Q2	Evidence and Build	What new evidence and capability exist?	a configured capability is not a validated result
Q3	Stress Test and Readiness	What do scenarios and tests show?	simulated loss or performance is not observed impact
Q4	Annual Synthesis and Renewal	What changed in the year, and what renews?	release follows review, not event publicity deadlines

Table 6.2Who contributes what each quarter
Steward or body	Role	Contribution route
The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI Canada)	Lead Institution and Consortium Secretariat; publisher of record; technical truth (key T)	science and practice communities · GCRI gateway
The Global Risks Forum (GRF)	leadership, dialogue and the Universe programme; public meaning (key M)	policy, Universe and national adoption · GRF gateway
The Global Risks Alliance (GRA)	finance, insurance and development readiness; capital meaning (key F)	finance and insurance · GRA gateway
Nexus Standards	preparatory drafts on vocabulary, hazards, indicators and methods	Standards site · working groups HAZ, IND, MTH, FIN, AI
Risk Academy	learning pathways tied to the agenda questions	Academy gateway · learning by review
Nexus Standards and Academy	technology chapter inputs: GCRI evidence, NXS standards, RA capability	technology editorial board

Standards drafts used in this edition

Risk vocabulary NRS-C1 (424 terms) for terms in the glossary
Hazard atlas NHS-1 1.1.0 (905 hazards in 120 families) for risk objects
Seven risk classes: global, catastrophic, existential, emerging, planetary, exponential, frontier-tech

Standards calendar to watch

Founding calls from 20 October 2026; working groups meet from 5 November 2026
Inaugural Global Standards Council session, 12 January 2027
Quarterly reviews in March, June, September and December, aligned with each edition

6.4GCRI reading: the model card

GCRI’s reading of this edition is its model card: what the national model is, what it computes and where it stops. It is printed in full in Annex A, with the methods it belongs to. Annex A, methodology

6.5Global Risks Forum reading: editorial essays

Four signed essays by the Reports editorial team set out the positions this edition takes. They are interpretation, labelled as such; the evidence they draw on is in the findings register.

Genomics is a data and hardware build-out and a therapeutic frontier. The first is large and measurable; the second is real for one product family and early for the rest. Keeping them apart avoids both hype and complacency.

EDITORIAL ESSAY · 01

Two stories, one technology

A peer-reviewed phase 3 report, a company revenue line and a vendor price page carry different weight. This edition labels each and asks for a common basis before costs are compared.

EDITORIAL ESSAY · 02

Separate results, claims and prices

Compute, cold chains and instruments are rarely counted. A published footprint would show whether scale is limited by energy, supply or money.

EDITORIAL ESSAY · 03

The footprint is the blind spot

Therapies exist for a few patients. Whether they reach people in low-income settings depends on cost, manufacturing and clinics, which analyses are only starting to model.

EDITORIAL ESSAY · 04

Access is the open question

6.6Global Risks Alliance reading: 2027 genomics readiness pack

The registers that open the 2027 global cycle. At baseline each is initialised from this edition.

Table 6.32027 genomics readiness pack
Item	Register	State at baseline	First 2027 entry
E1	Genomics risk state delta	baseline set by this edition	changes against the baseline
E2	WEFH+B state delta	five global system readings set	indicator updates and freshness
E3	Agenda and Portfolio movement	eight agenda items · 6 proposed objects	admission decisions
E4	Federation delivery register	national chapters in preparation	national chapters
E5	Consortium capability register	national consortia forming	first contributions
E6	Leadership questions and challenges	none yet	first challenge log
E7	Foundry technical state	national environments prepared	first federation cut
E8	Publication candidates	twelve findings carried forward	PUBLISH · HOLD dispositions
E9	Universe readiness	one candidate mission	admission and role spine
E10	Correction register	none	first federation-wide cycle

Publication dispositions

Publish
Hold
Needs evidence
Restricted
Superseded

6.7Nexus Standards reading: standards and regulatory watch

Instruments and published guidance that shape the systems in this edition, by status on the retrieval date. The edition assesses no one’s compliance.

IN FORCE
PUBLISHED
DRAFT
PUBLISHED · VOLUNTARY

Table 6.4Standards and regulatory watch
Instrument	Body	Scope	Status	Relevance
FDA approval of Casgevy and Lyfgenia¹	FDA	US	PUBLISHED 2023	approval
Plausible mechanism pathway⁵³⁷	FDA	US	DRAFT 2026	bespoke therapies
Human genome editing framework²⁷	WHO	global	PUBLISHED · VOLUNTARY	governance
Third Summit statement²⁸	organising committee	global	PUBLISHED 2023	heritable editing
Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023²⁹	UK Parliament	England	IN FORCE	plant editing
Regulation (EU) 2026/1388³⁶	EU Parliament and Council	EU	PUBLISHED 2026	plant editing
BIOSECURE provisions in the FY2026 NDAA³⁰	US Congress	US	IN FORCE	procurement
Oviedo Convention⁴¹	Council of Europe	Europe	IN FORCE	genome interventions
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act⁴⁴	US Congress	US	IN FORCE	data and employment
Heritable editing moratorium call⁴²	scientists	global	PUBLISHED 2019	moratorium

Changed since 2024

The EU adopted its regulation on plants from new genomic techniques in June 2026, to apply from July 2028³⁶
The FDA described a plausible mechanism pathway and issued draft guidance in 2026⁵³⁷
The BIOSECURE provisions were enacted on 18 December 2025³⁰

To watch in 2027

The OMB list of biotechnology companies of concern due by 18 December 2026³⁰
Final FDA guidance on the plausible mechanism pathway³⁷
Application of the EU regulation on new genomic techniques from 2028³⁶

6.8Risk Academy reading: literature and evidence review, science and assessments

The review behind this edition covers genomics assessments, peer-reviewed science and the institutional reports that bind its findings. Systematic reviews for each agenda item begin in 2027.

Review protocol

Question: What does the published evidence establish about genomics and gene editing as infrastructure and its couplings?
Sources searched: peer-reviewed journals and preprints; regulators and international bodies; statutes and statements; market, vendor and trade-press reports
Window: releases available at evidence close, 30 September 2026
Selection: sources that bind or contextualise a finding in this edition
Next step: systematic reviews for agenda items 01 to 05 in 2027

Table 6.5Peer-reviewed science and preprints
Reference	Type	Year	Role	Used for
Frangoul et al.²	journal article	2024	supports	sickle cell therapy
Locatelli et al.³	journal article	2024	supports	thalassaemia therapy
Musunuru et al.⁴	journal article	2025	supports	patient-specific editing
Lek et al.¹⁰	journal article	2023	context	safety event
Nurk et al.¹¹	journal article	2022	supports	complete genome
Liao et al.¹²	journal article	2023	supports	pangenome
Jinek et al.²⁴	journal article	2012	framework	programmable Cas9
Komor et al.²⁵	journal article	2016	framework	base editing

Table 6.6Clinical evidence and safety
Reference	Issuer	Year	Role	Used for
Anzalone et al.²⁶	journal article	2019	framework	prime editing
UK Biobank consortium¹⁶	journal article	2025	supports	whole genomes
All of Us investigators¹⁷	journal article	2024	supports	diverse cohort
Fatumo et al.¹⁸	journal article	2022	context	diversity roadmap
Sirugo, Williams and Tishkoff¹⁹	journal article	2019	context	missing diversity
Stephens et al.²⁰	journal article	2015	context	data growth
IHGSC⁴³	journal article	2001	framework	first draft sequence
Grealey et al.²¹	journal article	2022	supports	compute footprint

Table 6.7Standards, policy and governance
Reference	Issuer	Year	Role	Used for
FDA approval notice¹	FDA	2023	supports	approval
WHO framework²⁷	WHO	2021	supports	governance
Third Summit statement²⁸	organising committee	2023	supports	heritable editing
Precision Breeding Act²⁹	UK Parliament	2023	supports	plant editing
Oviedo Convention⁴¹	Council of Europe	1997	context	genome interventions

Table 6.8Supply, market and data overviews
Reference	Issuer	Year	Role	Used for
Vertex first quarter report⁶	Vertex	2026	context	company revenue
Cost-effectiveness analysis⁷	Blood	2026	supports	cost and capacity
Illumina product page¹⁴	Illumina	2026	context	vendor claim
Ultima product page¹⁵	Ultima	2026	context	vendor claim
Employment projection³³	BLS	2025	supports	workforce
Generation Study³⁴	Genomics England	2026	context	newborn sequencing
Evo 2 preprint²³	bioRxiv	2025	context	genome model

Where the evidence agrees

Ex vivo editing met its primary end point in most evaluable patients at short follow-up²³
Genomic datasets are large and still weighted to European ancestry¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹
Heritable editing is not currently acceptable²⁸

Where it is unsettled

Long-term safety of in vivo editing and high-dose delivery⁹¹⁰
Real sequencing and therapy costs on a common basis¹⁴¹⁵
How much energy and cooling genomics needs at scale²¹²²

Notes

Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references

6Vertex Pharmaceuticals (ed.), Vertex Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results (company press release read through a wire page; Casgevy revenue USD 42.9 million against USD 14.2 million; pediatric submission completed; company statement, weak evidence). Vertex, Boston. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
7Chetlapalli, K. et al., Haploidentical transplant, gene therapy, and standard care in sickle cell disease: a cost-effectiveness analysis, Blood 2026 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; gene therapy access limited by cost and manufacturing capacity). American Society of Hematology, Washington. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
1US Food and Drug Administration (ed.), FDA approves first gene therapies to treat patients with sickle cell disease (press announcement, 8 December 2023; Casgevy uses CRISPR/Cas9, Lyfgenia a lentiviral vector; patients 12 years and older). FDA, Silver Spring. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
5Clinical Trials Arena (ed.), FDA unveils new pathway to usher bespoke therapies to market (trade press, 13 November 2025; describes the plausible mechanism pathway announced in a journal article by the FDA Commissioner and the CBER Director; secondary report, weak evidence). Clinical Trials Arena, London. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
37UNVERIFIED, not opened: US Food and Drug Administration (ed.), draft guidance on the plausible mechanism framework for individualised therapies, February 2026, taken from search-result summaries. FDA, Silver Spring. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
27World Health Organization (ed.), Human genome editing: a framework for governance (technical document, 12 July 2021; companion recommendations published separately and not read). WHO, Geneva. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
28Royal Society (ed.), Statement from the Organising Committee of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing (8 March 2023; convened by the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the US National Academies and The World Academy of Sciences). Royal Society, London. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
29UK Parliament (ed.), Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023, 2023 c. 6 (contents page read; section texts not read). UK Parliament, London. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
36UNVERIFIED, not opened: European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EU) 2026/1388 on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques (adopted 17 June 2026, published 26 June 2026, applies from 17 July 2028), taken from search-result summaries that differ on some dates. Official Journal of the European Union, Luxembourg. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
30Latham and Watkins (ed.), BIOSECURE Act becomes law, limiting grants with biotechnology companies of concern (law-firm summary; enacted 18 December 2025 in the FY2026 NDAA; OMB list due by 18 December 2026; secondary source of a statute). Latham and Watkins, Los Angeles. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
41UNVERIFIED, not opened: Council of Europe (ed.), Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine (Oviedo Convention), 1997, cited from memory; the page returned an access error. Council of Europe, Strasbourg. Observation year 1997. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
44UNVERIFIED, not opened: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, Public Law 110-233, United States Congress, cited from memory. Observation year 2008. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
42UNVERIFIED, not opened: Lander, E.S. et al., Adopt a moratorium on heritable genome editing, Nature 567, 165 to 168, 2019, cited from memory. Observation year 2019. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
2Frangoul, H. et al., Exagamglogene Autotemcel for Severe Sickle Cell Disease, New England Journal of Medicine 2024 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; 44 treated, 30 evaluable, 29 free of crises for 12 months or more). Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
3Locatelli, F. et al., Exagamglogene Autotemcel for Transfusion-Dependent beta-Thalassemia, New England Journal of Medicine 2024 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; 52 treated, 35 evaluable, 32 transfusion independent). Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
4Musunuru, K. et al., Patient-Specific In Vivo Gene Editing to Treat a Rare Genetic Disease, New England Journal of Medicine 2025 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; one infant, two infusions at about 7 and 8 months of age). Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
10Lek, A. et al., Death after High-Dose rAAV9 Gene Therapy in a Patient with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, New England Journal of Medicine 2023 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
11Nurk, S. et al., The complete sequence of a human genome, Science 2022 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; 3.055 billion base pairs; nearly 200 million base pairs of new sequence). American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington. Observation year 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
12Liao, W.-W. et al. (Human Pangenome Reference Consortium), A draft human pangenome reference, Nature 2023 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; 47 phased diploid assemblies; 119 million base pairs added). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
24Jinek, M. et al., A programmable dual-RNA-guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity, Science 2012 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington. Observation year 2012. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
25Komor, A.C. et al., Programmable editing of a target base in genomic DNA without double-stranded DNA cleavage, Nature 2016 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2016. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
26Anzalone, A.V. et al., Search-and-replace genome editing without double-strand breaks or donor DNA, Nature 2019 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2019. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
16UK Biobank Whole-Genome Sequencing Consortium, Whole-genome sequencing of 490,640 UK Biobank participants, Nature 2025 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
17All of Us Research Program Genomics Investigators, Genomic data in the All of Us Research Program, Nature 2024 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; 245,388 genomes; 77% from communities under-represented in research). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
18Fatumo, S. et al., A roadmap to increase diversity in genomic studies, Nature Medicine 2022 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
19Sirugo, G., Williams, S.M. and Tishkoff, S.A., The Missing Diversity in Human Genetic Studies, Cell 2019 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Cell Press, Cambridge. Observation year 2019. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
20Stephens, Z.D. et al., Big Data: Astronomical or Genomical?, PLOS Biology 2015 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Public Library of Science, San Francisco. Observation year 2015. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
43UNVERIFIED, not opened: International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome, Nature 409, 860 to 921, 2001, cited from memory. Observation year 2001. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
21Grealey, J. et al., The Carbon Footprint of Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology and Evolution 2022 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; a software upgrade cut one tool footprint by 73%). Oxford University Press, Oxford. Observation year 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
14Illumina (ed.), NovaSeq X Series product page (vendor claims: 16 to 21 Tb per run for NovaSeq X Plus, more than 128 genomes per run, run time about 14 to 48 hours; vendor evidence, weak). Illumina, San Diego. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
15Ultima Genomics (ed.), germline genetics product page (vendor claim of a USD 60 genome at list price over 4 wafers on the UG200 series; the browser title reads USD 80; vendor evidence, weak). Ultima Genomics, Newark. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
33US Bureau of Labor Statistics (ed.), Occupational Outlook Handbook: Genetic Counselors (about 4,200 jobs in 2025; median pay USD 100,040 in May 2025; 10% growth projected 2025 to 2035). BLS, Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
34Genomics England (ed.), Generation Study: newborn genome sequencing (initiative page; 100,000 babies; more than 200 conditions; recruitment progress not stated). Genomics England, London. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
23Brixi, G. et al., Genome modelling and design across all domains of life with Evo 2, bioRxiv preprint 2025 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record; trained on 9.3 trillion base pairs; not peer reviewed at the time of reading). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
9BioSpace (ed.), Life-threatening liver toxicity triggers FDA freeze on two Intellia gene therapy studies (trade press, 30 October 2025; relays company disclosures; secondary report, weak evidence). BioSpace, Boston. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
22Lannelongue, L., Grealey, J. and Inouye, M., Green Algorithms: Quantifying the Carbon Footprint of Computation, Advanced Science 2021 (abstract read through the Europe PMC record). Wiley, Weinheim. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back

Cite this chapter

Valadbaygi, S. (Ed.). (2026). Chapter 6: Readings from the other desks. In Exponential Technology Report 2026: Genomics and Gene Editing (Baseline Edition 2026, Report No. NR-XTECH-GENOMICS-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE) [Draft under review]. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI).

Every citation form of the whole report, BibTeX and RIS included, is on the edition home. Cite this report

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