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The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research Division recently announced the winners of its Haptic Interfaces for Public Safety Challenge.
Haptic interfaces produce sensory cues in equipment or devices. For example, vibrations in... Read More »
During a live active shooter exercise at George Mason University’s Eagle Bank Arena, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) evaluated a suite of in-building sensors.
The exercise demonstrated how smart building technologies could inform daily operations and improve public safety and... Read More »
Three Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence have developed open-source tools to help the U.S. government combat transnational criminal organizations (TCO) and drug cartels in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Researchers examined foreign government documents for the... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have begun to recognize eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus as an emergent threat, as an especially deadly year in the United States winds to a close.
As of Nov. 12, there were 36 confirmed cases of EEE across eight states,... Read More »
Department of Defense (DoD) officials said the agency has earmarked nearly $49 million for university research endeavors through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).
“These awards provide research infrastructure to enable the most creative scientific minds in the... Read More »
China is rapidly gaining on the United States when it comes to creating technology that mitigates disease threats and developing pharmaceuticals faster, and it’s a phenomenon driven by a philosophy that the state, military, and the private sector are one in the same.
That was the testimony of... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) were honored by the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) for their leadership in supporting global health research and development (R&D).
The two were honored at GHTC’s 2019 Innovating for Impact Awards, which recognizes U.S.... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate awarded $199,984 to Digital Bazaar, a company based in Blacksburg, Va., to develop blockchain security technology.
The award was made by S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP). The Phase 1 award... Read More »
The European Commission granted marketing authorization to Merck for a vaccine to immunize adults against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) caused by the Zaire Ebola virus.
The vaccine, called ERVEBO, can be marketed in the 28 countries that are members of the European Union, as well as European... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently awarded Transmute Industries, an Austin, Texas-based company, a $198,642 Phase 1 award to develop a proof-of-concept application for Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The application must support... Read More »
A group of public safety organizations recently agreed to work together to enhance global emergency communications systems that serve nearly 1 billion people.
Under the agreement, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, Canada (APCO Canada), the European Emergency Number... Read More »
Looking for ways to diagnose and treat infectious diseases in regions with limits health care and laboratories can yield some interesting results, but researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are working on the development of a lab-on-a-smartphone to help expand the currently... Read More »
The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) briefed the United Nations Security Council on issues related to Syria’s chemical weapons last week.
The UN officials expressed their support for the objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the work of the... Read More »
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security has been designated as a Collaborating Center for Global Health Security by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Collaborating Centers are institutions that are selected to carry out activities and... Read More »
Techulon Inc. was awarded $785,000 to develop an antimicrobial that would kill drug-resistant bacteria by targeting specific genes critical to the bacteria’s survival.
The funding was from Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) – a global non-profit... Read More »
A study conducted by Stanford University under contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been expanded to include new technologies capable of identifying viral reservoirs for both Ebola and Zika infections.
The study is part of a larger international effort to research how... Read More »
Researchers from Kansas State University say that a new risk assessment model for Ebola transmission accurately predicted the disease’s spread into the Republic of Uganda, opening the possibility of a better means of predicting disease spread.
"This is a very new type of model," Caterina... Read More »
Industrial technology firm FLIR Systems has launched the latest version of its handheld explosives trace detector, maintaining the Fido X4 delivers sensitivity for a broad range of explosives.
“Our new Fido X4 is mission-ready for all critical security applications – from high-volume... Read More »
Twitter suspended content affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, following a request by members of Congress.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Reed (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Max Rose (D-NY), sent a... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said an Austin, Texas-based start-up has secured funding designed to enhance security checkpoint operations.
S&T officials said the agency awarded $199,961.29 to Synthetik Applied Technologies to develop a... Read More »
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials said infrastructure owners and operators are urged to be alert in accordance with November being designated National Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month.
Critical infrastructure (CI) plays an essential role in... Read More »
With the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded still ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the nation has opened itself to a second, large-scale vaccine trial backed by a global consortium.
The new vaccine candidate was created by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies and... Read More »
Research efforts led by the Universities of Washington and Stanford have demonstrated that efficient tracking of widespread tropical disease spread could benefit from satellite images and drone photos.
"This is a game-changer for developing-country public health agencies because it will make it... Read More »
A new vaccine candidate -- MV-LASV -- for Lassa fever has started clinical trials, according to Themis Bioscience and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
A Phase 1 trial is currently underway, with the vaccine administered to healthy volunteers. The vaccine used comes... Read More »
Under a $36.7 million contract awarded to them by the U.S. Navy, BAE Systems intends to create a dual band Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD) system that will act as a countermeasure against threats to aircraft.
These FOTDs are radio-frequency and are intended to supplement any aircraft: fighters,... Read More »
A set of three antibodies, recently identified by researchers sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), hold the promise of better treatments and vaccines for the flu.
In a paper published in Science last week, the researchers noted that the antibodies... Read More »
Scientists are rushing to find a vaccine for Lassa fever, and their efforts may have borne fruit in the form of a measles-platform based concoction that they now intend to put through human clinical trials by the end of the year.
Lassa, which infects up to 300,000 people per year and kills... Read More »
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) have requested the intelligence community conduct an assessment of the potential national security risks from China-owned content platforms operating in the United States.
The formal request was sent to Acting Director... Read More »
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory won the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FluSight Challenge by providing the most accurate state, national, and regional flu forecasts in 2018.
The lab beat out 23 other teams with its probabilistic artificial intelligence computer... Read More »
Countries are not prepared for the possible international spread of new or emerging pathogens or for the deliberate or accidental release of dangerous agents, according to a new index that assesses the capabilities of 195 nations.
The Global Health Security Index is a joint project by the... Read More »
Under the terms of a seven-year contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $60 million will be given to Dr. W. Henry Boom and a team of researchers from universities throughout the United States, in an effort to accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development.
The first year of the... Read More »
Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) microorganisms, also known as superbugs, increasingly threaten every person on Earth, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and national experts.
“Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent health risks of our time and threatens to undo a... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently provided a three-year grant to Kansas State University (KSU) for the development of a tool used to assess infection risk and implementing prevention efforts.
Led by KSU professor Caterina Scoglio, PICTUREE: Predicting Insect Contact and Transmission... Read More »
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the okay for a conditional marketing authorization for V920 Ebola Zaire vaccine developed by Merck.
If affirmed by the European Commission, the vaccine will be authorized under the brand name... Read More »
The ministries of health in Belize, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic announced the development of a surveillance network to identify and track acute febrile illnesses (AFIs), now with the assistance of experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and academic... Read More »
