# Responsible Research Policy

## Purpose

The project is intended to improve open understanding of molecular design and
to support peaceful, beneficial research. Protein design can also create
capabilities that deserve care. Technical possibility is not, by itself, a
reason to pursue or publish an implementation.

## Current boundary

The current project is computational and pre-experimental. Its model has no
biological sequences, pathogen targets, wet-lab automation, or synthesis
instructions.

If experimental work begins, the initial scope should use non-pathogenic,
non-toxic components, favor orthogonal peptide inputs, and begin in an
appropriately reviewed cell-free system. Applicable institutional biosafety,
ethics, legal, and synthesis-screening requirements take precedence over this
document.

## Work outside the initial scope

Do not use this project to optimize or enable:

- pathogenicity, virulence, toxicity, or immune evasion;
- host-range expansion or environmental persistence;
- resistance to antimicrobial treatment or biological containment;
- unreviewed release, autonomous propagation, or environmental deployment; or
- targeting of people, populations, agriculture, or ecosystems for harm.

The project is not medical, diagnostic, therapeutic, environmental-release,
or safety-certified infrastructure.

## Review triggers

A documented risk review is required before work that materially expands any
of the following:

- the biological activity or autonomy of a designed system;
- operation in living organisms rather than a cell-free setting;
- interaction with pathogens, toxins, immune systems, or clinically relevant
  targets;
- persistence, dissemination, scale, or difficulty of reversal; or
- the specificity and actionability of experimental protocols.

The review should describe intended benefit, plausible misuse and accidents,
containment, reversibility, information hazards, access controls, applicable
oversight, and a decision to proceed, narrow, delay, or stop.

## Publication and reporting

Share enough information for legitimate scrutiny and reproduction while
considering whether unusually actionable details create material risk.
Security or safety concerns should be reported privately as described in
[`SECURITY.md`](../SECURITY.md).

Responsible research also requires intellectual honesty: publish negative
results, report uncertainty, preserve provenance, disclose limitations, and do
not use hopeful language to disguise absent evidence.