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The Oklahoma Pandemic Center for Innovation and Excellence (OPCIE) officially opened in Stillwater, Okla., this week, presenting a new lab, genetic biorepository, and science lab to address public health concerns.
The facility is meant to serve as a frontline of defense against future... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) gave the go-ahead to build two additional National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV).
These vessels will replace aging training vessels at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Me., and Texas A&M Maritime Academy in... Read More »
Chalmers University of Technology researchers have determined that significant genetic transfer between bacteria in our ecosystems and humans may be linked to pathogenic bacteria in humans developing resistance to antibiotics.
"In recent years, we've seen that resistance genes spread to human... Read More »
ConserV Bioscience Limited (CBL) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) agreed to collaborate this week in creating a universal coronavirus vaccine capable of protecting against coronavirus pathogens of human and animal origin, as well as new mutations, researchers said.
CBL, a... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) hosted a virtual forum last week to identify knowledge gaps and set research priorities for vaccines against COVID-19.
At the forum – attended by more than 2,800 scientists from 130 countries – the participants discussed the safety and efficacy of existing... Read More »
With £2.5 million in funding from UK Research and Innovation, an arm of the government, the G2P-UK National Virology Consortium has been founded to study the threats posed by new SARS-CoV-2 variants increasingly cropping up across the world.
The effects of these mutations have yet to be fully... Read More »
The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $69.3 million to CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals Inc. last week to support the development of domestic production capability for critical medicines using integrated continuous manufacturing (ICM) technology.
ICM is a... Read More »
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS), which the company developed with the Army, would proceed with low rate initial production (LRIP).
The action stems from a successful Milestone C decision for the program, which the Department of... Read More »
The Rockefeller Foundation seeks to boost vaccination efforts in the United States with a $30 million new advance market commitment (AMC) with Thermo Fisher Scientific to procure and stock COVID-19 tests.
The investment will provide guaranteed demand to test manufacturers. In return, the stock... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will be able to purchase more than 2 million additional COVID-19 antibody treatments due to modifications to an existing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company.
The therapeutic in question,... Read More »
As DiaSorin Molecular LLC works to create a combination diagnostic for differentiating between influenza A/B and COVID-19, it will receive funding, technical assistance, and the expertise of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The announcement, made this week,... Read More »
Officials at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Ky., began destroying its next batch of chemical weapons, bringing the nation closer to its goal of eradicating the national stockpile by 2023.
Specifically, a 155-millimeter artillery projectile filled with VX nerve... Read More »
A Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) and Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) report has determined a blueprint for identifying high-risk or illicit nuclear trade activities at scale.
Signals in the Noise: Preventing Nuclear Proliferation with Machine Learning & Publicly Available... Read More »
Valneva SE and the European Commission (EC) are discussing the possibility of the specialty vaccine company supplying up to 60 million doses of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001, for use throughout Europe.
“Today’s announcement helps to ensure that millions of Europeans... Read More »
Specialty vaccine company Valneva appointed Perry Celentano as its interim chief operating officer (COO).
Celentano will serve in the interim role to support the company’s expansion of the manufacturing sites in Livingston, U.K., and Solna, Sweden.
Perry will be based at Valneva’s... Read More »
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) officials said the company has completed the initial phase of its Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence, which will be used to assemble hull structures.
Construction of the 22,000-square-foot facility serves as the first of two planned buildings on the... Read More »
The International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision is creating a global stockpile of the single-dose Merck and Sharp & Dohme Corp. Ebola vaccine to guarantee response capabilities for any outbreak, with financial support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The stockpile was deemed... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has partnered with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) to develop firefighter tracking technology.
The effort would allow first responders to locate team members in burning buildings more accurately.... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. will expand its vaccine efforts with three new development programs targeting mRNA vaccines for HIV, Nipah, and four seasonal flu viruses.
The company also intends to expand its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine program to older adults.
This is thanks to the... Read More »
The violent suicide bombing that rocked downtown Nashville, Tenn., on Christmas morning and devastated dozens of businesses in the area also exposed the difficulties with an American reliance on reactive, rather than proactive, emergency planning efforts.
While much focus has been placed on... Read More »
Both Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) DRIVe and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) put out a call this week for comments on potential evaluation criteria and testing protocols for an improved mask design challenge.
Input will help... Read More »
A collaboration and services agreement united Bayer and CureVac N.V. this week in support of CureVac’s new class mRNA-based medicines, particularly its COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV.
Under the agreement, Bayer will support development, supply, and key territory operations through its... Read More »
At least 80 percent to 85 percent of Americans should receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the country to reach herd immunity, said National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins in a Jan. 6 interview with the Washington Post.
“Herd immunity requires the majority of a population to be... Read More »
A new report from the LaJolla Institute for Immunology has revealed that almost all survivors of COVID-19 have the immune cells necessary to fight re-infection.
Based on analyses of blood samples from 188 COVID-19 patients, the findings suggest that the immune system learns to fight specific... Read More »
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.28 billion sustainable contract from the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office.
This Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) supports operations and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet through June 30, 2021.
"This contract ensures F-35s remain ready to fly and... Read More »
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and NASCAR officials recently joined Daytona International Speedway personnel, first responders, and law enforcement officials in conducting a Daytona 500 fan safety tabletop exercise.
The exercise serves as an example of the planning and... Read More »
Under a $13.5 million contract, Bavarian Nordic A/S announced this week that it would provide supplies of its IMVANEX smallpox vaccine to three European governments in the first half of 2021.
“We are pleased to expand our sales of smallpox vaccines to other countries,” Paul Chaplin,... Read More »
The Navy has awarded BAE Systems a $4 million rapid response contract to conduct a quick-turnaround demonstration of a P-8A Poseidon radio frequency countermeasure (RFCM) system.
“The ability to meet this unprecedented response time underscores our agility, focus on meeting customer needs, and... Read More »
Dr. Barbara Alexander, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, chair of the HIV Medicine Association, called this week for swift action to overcome the hurdles slowing COVID-19 vaccine access and efforts to counter the raging pandemic.
“To address... Read More »
Laura McGill has been named Sandia National Laboratories deputy labs director and will lead its nuclear deterrence programs to support safety, security, and reliability excellence.
“I’m honored to join Sandia Labs and the tradition of serving the national security mission,” McGill said.... Read More »
While many antibody tests today fail to identify neutralizing antibodies, Dr. Benjamin Larimer, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has developed a diagnostic capable of accurately and quickly identifying these antibodies and showing people’s potential immunity to... Read More »
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has acquired the autonomy business of Spatial Integrated Systems Inc. (SIS), indicating the acquisition expands HII’s unmanned systems capabilities with unmanned surface vessel (USV) solutions.
“We are excited to welcome the SIS autonomy business employees... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued emergency use validation for the Pfizer/BioNTech Comirnaty mRNA vaccine last week, ending 2020 by issuing the first such validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The global organization’s declaration will allow countries to expedite their regulatory... Read More »
A peer-reviewed report chronicling the phase three trial data of mRNA-1273, Moderna, Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, was released in the New England Journal of Medicine last week and confirmed its 94.1 percent efficacy in preventing COVID-19.
Distribution of the vaccine has already begun in the... Read More »
CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, is collaborating with an India-based pharmaceutical company to develop a COVID-19 subunit vaccine candidate.
The partnership is with Biological E Limited, or Bio E, a Hyderabad-based vaccine and pharmaceutical company. CEPI will... Read More »
