Get Started
Build trust with
every order
Commec runs locally, meets global compliance standards, and can deploy today. Install now or explore first — our team can help you get started.
Get Started
Commec runs locally, meets global compliance standards, and can deploy today. Install now or explore first — our team can help you get started.
Core capabilities
At no cost, stay compliant across markets and in full control of your data.
Screen each sequence in under a second, according to internal benchmarking on batches of 500–50,000 200bp sequences.
Comply with frameworks and policy across 50+ countries, including the Australia Group, India, China, and South Africa.
False positive rate under 2% when tested against the iGEM Registry of over 20,000 real synthetic biology designs.
Screen down to 50 base pairs, aligned with the IGSC Harmonized Screening Protocol, national frameworks, and ISO 20688-2.
Local screening keeps your order data on your infrastructure, with custom implementation support to fit your workflow.
Stay future-proof against AI-designed sequences of concern, flagged for functional risk even without a known pathogen match. Commec detected 97% of 76,000, as reported in Science.
Dynegene runs one of the world's highest-throughput synthesis platforms, serving nearly 1,000 partners globally with turnaround as fast as one working day.
“We found Commec to be very effective in guiding our sequence screening. The results are presented clearly and adopting Commec has helped improve our workflow when screening sequences from all our orders.”
Eli Qu · Manager, Department of Bioinformatics, Dynegene
Two ways to begin
Still new to screening and want to understand more? Book a meeting for a guided walkthrough with our technical team. Implementation support is entirely free.
The full installation guide and documentation are on our GitHub wiki, ready to get you started.
Commec is free and open-source, runs locally to preserve control and privacy, and is fully extensible with your own custom databases. Questions? Email screening@ibbis.bio.
Commec runs comfortably on a laptop. Here is what we recommend for the best experience.
A solid state drive makes screening fast. Leave 50 GB available for databases and working files.
We recommend at least 16 threads to adequately parallelize screening runs, though Commec can run with fewer.
Commec requires less memory currently, but 16 GB keeps you future-proof as the software and databases change.
A stable connection is needed for the database download and updates, under 10 minutes on good Wi-Fi. Commec runs offline after that.
Learn more
Benchmarking results from testing v0.1 of the Common Mechanism.
See results → DocsInstallation guides, usage, and reference on our GitHub wiki.
Read the wiki → QuestionsAnswers to common questions about installing and running Commec.
Browse the FAQ →See more publications, media mentions, and IBBIS tools on the Common Mechanism page.
Built through global collaboration, rigorously tested, and constantly evolving.
2019 – 2023
The Common Mechanism was built with the International Technical Consortium for DNA Synthesis Screening, launched by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and World Economic Forum in 2019. Technical planning started in 2020, and the databases and screening algorithm were developed between 2021 and 2023.
2024
Tested against real orders from Twist Bioscience and against the Sequence Biosecurity Risk Consortium (SBRC)'s first test set. This version was built to meet and exceed the screening guidance from the IGSC Harmonized Screening Protocol and the U.S. Framework for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening.
2025
Commec's performance was tested at scale and benchmarked against other leading screening tools. It was tested against a 1.1 million sequences SBRC's test set, and was one of the tools tested in a Microsoft-led study, published in Science, which tested screening resilience against 76,000 AI-designed variants of dangerous proteins. The study drew coverage from Nature, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and MIT Technology Review.
2026
Commec version 2.0 launches to meet industry needs: lower storage requirements, faster screening, and selective flagging for region-specific compliance, supporting global partnerships across nucleic acid synthesis.
Future
Through Commec, we're working toward harmonized global screening, giving providers of all sizes, everywhere, the opportunity to join industry leaders who have already invested in screening tools. Today's version meets current needs, with dedicated support ahead as policies evolve, part of our commitment to safeguarding modern bioscience and biotechnology.
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