- A newly characterized enzyme, EnvD (a depolymerase from the soil bacterium Pusillimonas noertemannii BS8), can strip Bacillus anthracis of its protective polypeptide capsule in the vegetative state and has been shown to protect mice from lethal inhalation anthrax infection.  
- The EnvD study was published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (https://aac.asm.org/content/59/12/7687.short), highlighting a potential open-source biosecurity countermeasure against anthrax.  
- The U.S. National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences announced plans to convene an international commission to develop specific rules for “CRISPR babies,” with participation from Britain’s Royal Society, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other global bodies.  
- Commission organizers, including legal scholar Alta Charo, are considering unprecedented requirements such as “multigenerational observations in lab animals” before allowing heritable human genome edits.  
- The announcement was made at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos and reported by STAT News (https://www.statnews.com/2019/01/24/crispr-babies-show-need-for-more-specific-rules/).