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Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) | bio hosted two events during the 2019 Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of States Parties in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this month.
A panel of international biosecurity experts was the focus of the first event. The experts discussed efforts to reduce... Read More »
Bolstering what could become the first antibiotic developed and acquired by Project BioShield to treat drug-resistant bioterrorism agents, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) intends to supply up to $169 million to Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. over the next five years.
The... Read More »
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recently awarded BAE Systems a more than $17 billion, 10-year multiple award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for Solutions for Intelligence Analysis 3 (SIA 3).
An IDIQ contract is awarded when the U.S. General Services Administration... Read More »
Researchers from Princeton University have found that climate change has the potential to make respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks less severe but more common in high-risk areas.
The studies consisted of climate condition influence on annual outbreaks of RSV in the United States and... Read More »
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Monday released the domestic priorities and international assistance appropriations minibus, which includes ramped-up final budget amounts for several biodefense-related items, including the Strategic National Stockpile.
In releasing the text of the... Read More »
Researchers from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, recently developed a self-cleaning, plastic surface that repels bacteria.
The goal is to prevent the transfer of dangerous bacteria and antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
The surface is a treated form of conventional transparent wrap... Read More »
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), long a source of concerted health efforts to combat one of the largest Ebola outbreaks ever recorded, experienced a sharp increase in cases last week -- and many may be linked to an individual’s reinfection.
In all, 27 new cases were confirmed last... Read More »
One of the most searing memories Thomas Frieden had during the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak was one in which he deeply questioned the international community’s effectiveness in supporting the health infrastructure of Ebola-plagued nations.
Then head of the Centers for Disease Control and... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General is initiating an audit of the $400 million border wall construction contract the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded to Fisher Sand and Gravel Co.
"We intend to initiate an audit of the solicitation and award of the $400 million... Read More »
IDSS and One Resonance received the top two monetary awards in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Opioid Detection Challenge.
The $1.55 million global competition searches for rapid, nonintrusive detection tools that will help find illicit... Read More »
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune have identified 150 possible inhibitors within the Nipah virus -- giving them starting points for drugs to target for the currently untreatable disease.
"We conclude that it is highly likely that the proposed inhibitors... Read More »
Researchers at the University of Queensland have created a technology that will help create safer hybrid viruses at higher volumes for research and diagnostic efforts involving mosquito-borne diseases.
The key to the technology was the Binjari virus. Study researchers exploited the benign... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) issued a report recommending steps to improve the decision-making process for nuclear weapons use.
The President and Nuclear Weapons: Authorities, Limits, and Process specifically looks at the state of domestic and international law related to the use of... Read More »
The Stop TB Partnership launched an update to its plan to end tuberculosis that includes billions in annual funding.
The partnership’s Global Plan to End TB 2018-2022 calls for $2.6 billion per year for the research and development of new tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic tools, new drug regimens,... Read More »
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) are testing a vaccine to protect against serious diarrheal illnesses caused by food and water contaminated with bacteria like E. coli and Shigella.
Drs. Wilbur Chen and Eileen Barry will lead these tests, thanks to $4.5... Read More »
Janssen Pharmaceutical and Bavarian Nordic will provide up to 200,000 regimens of its investigational Ebola vaccine to the Republic of Rwanda to support a new immunization program.
The vaccine regimen, which consists of the MVA-BN Filo vaccine from Bavarian Nordic and the Ad26.ZEBOV vaccine... Read More »
The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), and the City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department recently received new S-70i FIREHAWK helicopters built by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and United Rotorcraft, a division of Air... Read More »
Per an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Sanofi Pasteur will gain $226 million to increase its domestic pandemic influenza vaccine production capabilities.
This money will go to the clinical development and manufacturing of an adjuvanted recombinant pandemic... Read More »
The U.S. Army has earmarked a five-year contract worth up to $109 million for FLIR Systems to provide 350 Kobra robots for the Common Robotic System-Heavy (CRS-H) program.
“We are pleased to be selected for the U.S. Army’s CRS-H program and deliver lifesaving robotic technology to our... Read More »
Chemical industry officials said the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) would be at the forefront of establishing guidelines promoting safety and security.
During the recent second edition of the Workshop on Developing Tools for Chemical Safety and Security at Almaty in... Read More »
A joint effort by Duke-NUS Medical School and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has built The Nipah Virus International Conference for experts and health stakeholders to address the threat of Nipah virus collaboratively.
“There are currently no specific drugs or... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority Board recently held its year-end meeting and highlighted FirstNet’s progress and its priorities for the future.
FirstNet is a nationwide public safety broadband network with more than 1 million connections by more than 10,000 public safety... Read More »
Thanks to a new program approved by the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, last week, a global emergency stockpile of Ebola vaccines will be funded and opened for use by those in need of outbreak and prevention efforts.
Gavi intends to pump $178 million into the program through 2025, with a... Read More »
A new report by the RAND Corp. found that police crime centers that use technology, like remote cameras and analytic tools, may be able to reduce crime.
RAND researchers found significant reductions in some types of crimes in Chicago, including robberies and burglaries, using these tools and... Read More »
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) recently espoused the work of the Reagan Institute’s Reagan Task Force, which recently released a report outlining recommendations to strengthen America’s National Security Innovation Base (NSIB).
“The Reagan Task Force’s report is the product of a year’s worth... Read More »
A new report recently showed that the Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) has a more than 81 percent effective rate among vaccinated children in Nepal.
The report, provided to the New England Journal of Medicine by the Typhoid Vaccine Acceleration Consortium (TyVAC), was based on a field study of... Read More »
BAE Systems has secured a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract to develop software enabling semi-autonomous multi-domain mission planning.
The endeavor would allow military operators to leverage battlespace resources from across various domains, such as space, air, land,... Read More »
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that despite more countries recognizing and prioritizing the dangers of climate change and its potential impacts on health, they are not entirely acting to confront the situation.
Of 101 countries surveyed, half have developed a... Read More »
Defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions firm Raytheon introduced its Synthetic Training Environment Soldier Virtual Trainer (STE SVT) at
I/ITSEC, the world's largest modeling, simulation, and training event.
The technology uses real and virtual weapons to train dismounted... Read More »
A partnership between the emergency management directors of 14 counties, the Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and citizenAID will provide nearly 1,000 Public Safety Drop Kits to first responders throughout Central Ohio.
The kits, made by Columbus-based citizenAID,... Read More »
Faced with malaria parasites that are rapidly developing resistance to traditional front-line drugs, scientists from the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons have started to unravel the question of how with a new imaging study.
The focus of their photos was PfCRT, a... Read More »
The World Health Organization has reported 440,263 confirmed cases of measles as of Nov. 5., with most in Africa.
Specifically, in Africa, outbreaks are ongoing in Madagascar, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the Congo, there are 250,270 suspected cases with 5,110... Read More »
Study leaders who put to the test four separate experimental therapies for use against Ebola virus disease (EVD) say that all have proven effective after halting a clinical trial of the treatments in August.
“Response teams have faced unprecedented challenges in ongoing efforts to save lives... Read More »
Engineering, construction, and private military contracting firm KBR has secured a $216 million Defense Health Agency (DHA) task order to provide cybersecurity services.
“KBR believes our military men and women deserve the best possible care," Byron Bright, president of KBR Government... Read More »
Artificial Intelligence could help medical experts detect tuberculosis (TB) in patients if Cleveland-based Diascopic LLC can successfully bring their diagnostic technology to market.
Aiding them in this endeavor is a federal business innovation grant -- the National Institute of Health Small... Read More »
