commec, IBBIS’s free and open-source tool for screening synthetic DNA, has a new software release. It is lighter to run and broader in the regulations it checks against. These are the latest updates:

Small enough to run on a laptop

The size of its reference database was the most common reason providers held back from commec. This release makes the database nearly 100 times smaller to download, with no loss in screening performance. A test set of 1,000 sequences now runs in under 15 minutes on a standard laptop.

That puts commec within reach of providers who could not justify the dedicated infrastructure it used to need.

Screening against ten jurisdictions’ rules

commec now flags sequences against the US screening framework, UK screening guidance, and the export controls of the Australia Group, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Russia, and South Africa. A provider can see which of its own jurisdiction’s rules a sequence implicates, instead of a generic concern flag.

Comparing what each jurisdiction regulates

A new commec list command shows which taxa each of those jurisdictions regulates and where their lists differ. For a provider shipping across borders, this shows whether an order that clears one country’s controls would be caught under another’s, without cross-referencing each list by hand.

Clearer annotation behind every flag

Each flag now also carries richer annotation, with more sequences linked to UniProt accessions. A screener reviewing a flag can trace it back to a specific, documented protein entry, which makes results easier to interpret and to justify when an order is queried or held.

Control lists on request

If a company needs a control list commec does not yet cover, the IBBIS team will annotate it on request. Turnaround is under three weeks for the first five requests, so a provider entering a new market is not left waiting on coverage it needs to operate.

Access commec at commec.ibbis.bio.

This release is the work of the IBBIS team behind commec over the past several months.