Dual use research “is research conducted for legitimate purposes that generates knowledge, information, technologies, and/or products that could be utilized for both benevolent and malevolent purposes.” - CITI Program
Dual use research of concern (DURC) “is life sciences research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security.” - CITI Program
Select Agent research is a specific subset of life sciences research that involves only those microorganisms and toxins specifically identified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Department of Agriculture regulations as having the potential to pose a severe threat to human, animal, or plant health, or to animal and plant products.