Sponsors (3)
Official title: To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a centralized resource for access to data to facilitate biological research through enabling advanced computational methods such as artificial intelligence, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Matt Van Epps · Last progress June 11, 2026
Creates a DOE-funded centralized Web of Biological Data at a National Laboratory, requiring a 1-year implementation plan and a tested Phase I Web within two years.
The bill concentrates and funds national biological data infrastructure to speed research and bolster dataset security while increasing federal spending and introducing biosecurity, influence, and transparency risks.
Researchers, scientists, and students gain a single, unified portal and increased federal R&D support for biological data science and tooling, making it easier and faster to find, share, and analyze federally funded biological datasets.
Taxpayers, hospitals, and research institutions benefit from strengthened cybersecurity: the bill requires tiered safeguards for sensitive datasets and independent biannual cybersecurity assessments to reduce misuse and identify vulnerabilities.
Taxpayers, small businesses, and research programs may get more resources and innovation because the bill encourages public‑private cost‑sharing and partnerships that can leverage philanthropic and industry support to expand data infrastructure.
Taxpayers will face substantial new federal spending commitments (initial appropriation $340M+ and likely ongoing costs), increasing government budgetary obligations.
The public and health systems are exposed to elevated biosecurity and dual‑use risks because centralizing sensitive biological data can enable misuse if safeguards fail or are misconfigured.
Scientists, researchers, and taxpayers risk conflicts of interest and narrowed research priorities because cost‑sharing with industry and philanthropy could influence who controls access to datasets and which projects get prioritized.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a centralized "Web of Biological Data" housed at a Department of Energy National Laboratory through a competitive grant and establishes an R&D program on biological data science. The selected laboratory director must build a single point-of-entry portal that inventories and provides access to federally funded biological datasets, adds quality metadata and usability metrics, and applies tiered cybersecurity and access controls. Requires the Department of Energy to award the grant within 180 days, directs the lab director to deliver an implementation plan within one year, and to deploy a tested initial Phase I Web within two years. The plan must cover data acquisition, digitization of federally owned/federally funded biological samples, cost-sharing approaches, cybersecurity protections, and partnership strategies with industry, philanthropy, and other federal agencies.