US China policy shifted decisively from engagement to antagonism under Donald Trump, and many expected Joe Biden to shift back to a less hostile policy. Yet he has continued Trump's tariffs, the “Quad” alignment with Japan, Australia, and India, and the designation of Chinese policy in Xinjiang as a “genocide.” Is Biden just continuing Trump's China policy, or are there some important differences? If so, what are they? And what are the prospects that Biden’s China policy will succeed?

Current limitations in cancer therapies motivated the bioengineering approach to genetically program living cells for cancer therapy. Genetic engineering of bacteria repurposes the natural capabilities of bacterial cells as programmable, safe, and localized vehicles for cancer treatment. While the genetic tools are much more widely available in Gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia coli, there are limits associated with the safety and efficacy of these bacteria. Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, as well as other species of bacilli, are non-pathogenic and have been deemed generally recognized as safe. To date, there has been little effort in engineering B. subtilis for biomedical applications such as cancer drug delivery, despite evidence that several bacilli naturally produce cytotoxic molecules. We aim to identify Gram-positives that can serve as novel candidates for antitumor therapies, while also expanding the available genetic toolbox for species of bacilli in the context of therapeutic drug delivery.