On May 28, 2014, policy researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the University of Virginia, and EMBO released a report on challenges faced by regulators with the increased use of more sophisticated synthetic biology technologies to engineer plants and microbes. According to the press release on the report, "[t]he authors conclude that while the United States governmental agencies tasked with oversight of products derived through synthetic biology have adequate legal jurisdiction to address most, but not all, environmental, health and safety concerns, several key issues could challenge these agencies including: the advent of newer plant engineering technologies that are outside the authority of some agencies, and increased use of more complex engineered microbes that could overwhelm regulators both from a science and safety review and increasing cost perspective." A copy of the press release on the report issued by JCVI is available online. A copy of the full report is available at online.

On May 29, 2014, the Woodrow Wilson Center's Synthetic Biology Project and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a report entitled "Creating a Research Agenda for the Ecological Implications of Synthetic Biology." The report suggests key research areas for government agencies, including species for comparative research; phenotypic characterization; fitness, genome stability and lateral gene transfer; control of organismal traits; monitoring and surveillance; modeling; and standardization of methods and data. A copy of the press release on the report is available online. A copy of the full report is available online.